In 1971, John Francis, known the world over as ‘Planetwalker,’ witnessed an oil tanker collision in the San Francisco Bay. The sight of oiled birds on the shoreline caused him to give up motorized transport and rely solely on his own two feet. Months after that he took a vow of silence convinced that listening rather than adding fuel to any fire was the way ahead.

He didn’t talk, but he kept on walking clear across the country and back again. During the next seventeen silent years he listened and studied the world around him. Over many miles his idea of environmentalism changed. At the core of his emerging belief were the people he met, talked to, and broke bread with.

At 78 years old, John both talks and rides in cars. Now he memorably recounts much of his interior journey, his thoughts, and desires as he intuitively crafted a unique life focused on environmental activism.

PLANETWALKER focuses on the period of John’s life from the oil spill through his meandering 20-year journey across the States where he resumes speaking to work on oil spill legislation with the US Coast Guard. During this time, it seemed like the whole world, every creed and color, saw John pass by and interacted with him if only fleetingly. By tracking some of these people down, the film explores the weblike and sometimes deeply personal consequences of John’s decades of pilgrimage.

Directors: Dominic Gill, Nadia Gill (US 2023) 31 min.

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