SHELBURNE FALLS — Pothole Pictures is joining the festivities in honor of the 90th anniversary of the Bridge of Flowers, offering screenings of a gardening film on Friday and Saturday.
For many Pothole Pictures volunteers, including Jim Kessler, it was a no-brainer to add a gardening movie to this year’s lineup so that it would coincide with local celebrations, he said.
But, choosing this particular documentary, “Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf,” was a risk, Kessler explained. Within the gardening community, Master Gardener Oudolf is internationally famous; outside of it, his name may elicit a confused face.
Still, it was a risk Pothole Pictures was willing to take.
“Did we make a heck of a mistake picking a movie nobody knows about? Or were we brilliant because gardeners will be coming out from behind their trellises from all over New England? Who knows,” Kessler said with a grin.
The film takes viewers on a journey through Oudolf’s creative process in a few of the gardens he designed.
In the world of gardening, Oudolf’s fame is legendary. Gardenista magazine said of him, “If the world of gardening had rock stars, Piet Oudolf qualifies as Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Prince rolled into one.”
A 2018 review of the movie by the same magazine said that “for gardeners everywhere, the film is a tantalizing 75 minutes in which to lose yourself in one man’s vision and passion.”
Even the non-gardener may have heard of his high-profile work in the United States. Oudolf was the plant designer for New York City’s High Line, where 1.45 miles of decommissioned freight rail line was converted into a public garden. In Chicago’s Millennium Park, Oudolf helped design the Lurie Garden.
Special guests for each showing may lure gardeners to put down their spades. The film’s director, Thomas Piper, will present the film on Friday and hold a question and answer session after the screening. On Saturday, master gardeners Sherry Wilson and Larri Cochran will hold the question and answer session about Oudolf’s work.
Maureen O’Reilly can be reached at 413-772-0261, ext. 280 or moreilly@recorder.com.