Rebuilding Paradise

Ron Howard / United States / 2020 / Central European Premiere / 95 min.

synopsis

On November 8, 2018, one spark was enough to start a fire on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which was one of the most devastating fires in California history. The fiery hell left 85 victims and more than 60,000 hectares of scorched land. The town of Paradise was also reduced to ashes. In the emotional documentary by Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, the surviving residents return to the place of destruction to overcome the trauma of losing their homes and face their uncertain future. Together with them, we experience a year of despair, facing the untamed element, and the hope and determination to start anew and rebuild the lost paradise.

„Well, I’d never been, you know, around anything like that, that sort of total devastation. And that in and of itself was shocking to the nervous system. And then to see and begin to interview people who, you know, had experienced the rug completely pulled out from under them, what was going to be left for them. And that became our story. And it’s also something that they wanted to talk about. They wanted to share that footage. They wanted people to understand that as we saw these individuals, make some pretty remarkable decisions and take these steps toward actually trying to rebuild their lives and this community, we would never forget that, you know, in their recent past was this harrowing experience.“ R. Howard

biography

Hollywood director and producer Ron Howard (1954) started as a child actor. In 1977, he made his directorial debut with the comedy Grand Theft Auto. Since then, he has directed a number of award-winning dramas, such as Backdraft (1991), Apollo 13 (1995), A Beautiful Mind (2001) or Rush (2013), as well as the successful comedies Splash! (1984) and Parenthood (1989). His two previous documentaries, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week (2016) and Pavarotti (2019), were also very well received.