BOILING SPRING LAKES, N.C. (WECT) – Documentary filmmaker Robert Ford is from London, but he\u2019s always had a fondness for a plant that grows across the Atlantic Ocean in Southeastern North Carolina.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been fascinated by the Venus flytrap for many years, since childhood, like many children, but I didn\u2019t outgrow it,\u201d Ford said. \u201cI just think they\u2019re the most amazing, most fascinating plant, and I really want to celebrate them on the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford has produced and won awards for several documentary films, like The Deepest Breath, Rising Phoenix, and Super\/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, but his next project, Flytrap Town, is a departure from those projects.<\/p>\n
Focusing on the Venus flytrap, Flytrap Town tells the stories of local volunteers, scientists and wildlife officers as they work to protect the world\u2019s only wild population of the plant, found within a 75-mile radius of Wilmington.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe film will feature really incredible state-of-the-art macro cinematography showing the Venus Flytrap with a level of detail that\u2019s never been seen before on the screen,\u201d Ford said. \u201cBut it\u2019s actually the story of the humans, the people who are trying to protect it.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those people is Kathy Sykes. Sykes lives in Boiling Spring Lakes and is part of a group called Venus Flytrap Champions. Over the past few years, they\u2019ve completed eight \u201cVenus Flytrap Rescues,\u201d where they save native flytrap plants from areas that are about to be developed. They dig them up and replant them in a safe location along the Boiling Spring Lakes Nature Trail.<\/p>\n
While the plant itself is protected by state law, Sykes said the lands they grow on sometimes are not.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, it doesn\u2019t matter how protected the plant is if the habitat isn\u2019t protected,\u201d Sykes said. \u201cLike, even though they\u2019re protected, the developer can do what he wants with the land that he owns. He can go right in there and bulldoze all those ditches and turn it all up and throw it all on the debris pile.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sykes believes development, not poachers, is the largest threat now facing the native species.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something Ford has also noticed throughout his six trips to North Carolina in the past three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the filming takes place in Brunswick County, and every time I would come there, I would see more and more development, new houses,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n
Ford filmed Sykes and the Venus Flytrap Champions for days at a time, but they won\u2019t be the only group featured. Ford also interviewed researchers and scientists who work with the plant daily.<\/p>\n
Sykes hopes that when it comes to the final edit, audiences will understand her message as a local volunteer loud and clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a unique opportunity here to not let this species go the way of the dodo bird,\u201d Sykes said. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s the time to act. I was honored to hopefully be featured, and it may all wind up on the cutting floor, but at least I feel like I did my part and I tried.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford plans to travel back to southeastern North Carolina in October to do some more filming, but he says he won\u2019t be able to finish the project without more financial help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese feature documentaries take a long time to make,\u201d Ford said. \u201cI want to keep filming until next spring and then edit. So it\u2019s a long process, but we do need more funding to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n