This pandemic was supposed to last a couple of months. When people began hunkering down in response to COVID-19, Northampton resident Dave Russo moved in with his partner, Madeline Leue, in Ashfield so they could together get through the public health crisis. And they soon learned that with unprecedented times come unprecedented amounts of free time. So Russo, an artist by trade, decided to make a short film he dreamed up long before the novel coronavirus was a concern and have it narrated by Madeline’s daughter, going by Calliope “Callie” Mary, who turned 7 shortly after the movie was finished.
Dave illustrated the movie and used many of Callie’s past adorable colloquialisms for the narration, giving the short film a child-like whimsicality. The result: “The Magical Forest and the Things.”
“She’s a very animated, full-of-personality sort of kid. And it was nice to have her tell a story,” Russo said of Callie, adding that the movie-making process was full of learning opportunities while Leue was busy with her job or doing work for the graduate school she is in.
“It basically started with recording (Callie), and she learned about sound effects. We … cracked sticks to mimic (trees being torn up) and I showed her how to slow it down on the computers. … I just basically drew it the way I thought it sounded,” he added. “It was an idea I had before Covid. I don’t think we ever would have gotten around to it.”
The special forest sports a variety of trees that grow apples, chocolate and dog food.
The inhabitants perform the laborious task of cutting down trees to make houses until they discover a giant that can do it much more easily. But people get greedy and start requesting more and more trees to build bigger and bigger houses so they can gain peer approval in the form of high-fives. One family asks for “fifty-hundred-hundred trees,” an example of Callie’s fanciful colloquialisms.
Eventually, the giant (which represents a megacorporation) depletes the forest of trees, which was the people’s food source. This is when a little girl figures out everyone must practice personal responsibility.
“It’s about how we try to impress each other with ‘McMansions’ and gas-guzzlers,” Russo said. “It’s about everything. It’s not just about deforesting.”
Callie said she learned a lot from making the movie with Russo.
“We found out you don’t snap your fingers and a movie comes out,” she said, adding that the little girl is her favorite character because she tells the forest people to stop using so many trees.
Russo said “The Magical Forest and the Things” has so far been entered into seven film festivals, including the Boston International Kids Film Festival, slated to be held virtually from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22.
Callie said she looks forward to possibly making another film with Russo.
“It was a lot of fun,” she said, adding that she doesn’t know how much longer the pandemic will last, but that she is content being around loved ones. “I’m not that cooped up. I got cousins I can play with … right down the hill. I can literally walk down there.”
Russo, who grew up in the Springfield area and was living in Northampton until the pandemic began, was a touring musician before taking a break starting in 2018. He has since been focused on selling visual art and he jumped at the chance to make a movie with Callie.
“I’m biased but she is objectively advanced for her age. She reads at a level that’s double her age and she’s incredibly intuitive and incredibly creative,” he said.
“The Magical Forest and the Things” can be seen on YouTube and on Russo’s website, scribblesofdave.com. Tickets for the virtual show of the Boston International Kids Film Festival can be purchased at bikff.org.