Join us for an HDTV screening of The Last Nomads, 2008 Grand Prize Winner at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Ian Mackenzie will then present a slide show on what has happened to the disappearing world of the nomadic Penan in the Borneo rain forest since the making of the film.

Every year, Ian Mackenzie treks through the shredded remnants of the Borneo rain forest, looking for the last of the nomadic Penan. In the film The Last Nomads, Ian goes back to Borneo with filmmaker Andrew Gregg to document the search for the only remaining hunting and gathering Penan. Ian travels through a series of Penan settlements, moving closer and closer to the last reported nomadic camp, where it is said that the chief has been driven mad by logging and where Ian fears he will see his final glimpse of a vulnerable and ancient people he has come to care about deeply.

In his presentation following the film, Mackenzie will discuss how the Penan are only one example of a looming tragedy. Mackenzie, a linguist by training, will provide insight into the fact that as many as half of the world’s languages and cultures will be dead by the end of this century. Even a "primitive" people like the Penan has a language that may contain a million words and expressions, and the associated culture is equally vast. As things stand, most of this ancient wisdom will vanish without trace — with minimal field-work being done by linguists and anthropologists in this area. Mackenzie will address if this trend can be reversed.

In addition to speaking and reading over ten languages, Mackenzie is the author and photographer of Ancient Landscapes of British Columbia, and is the co-author (with Wade Davis) of Nomads of the Dawn: the Penan of the Borneo Rainforest. He has also written, produced, and directed the television documentary, Cry of the Forgotten Land, which portrays the plight of New Guinea forest dwellers confronted with the destruction of their homeland and the extinction of their culture.

On The Last Nomads:

“This is beautifully and sensitively crafted film that delivers a strong message without being evangelical, weaving Mackenzie’s views with a look at a disappearing world on the edge of an insatiably encroaching world.”
— 2008 Banff Mountain Film Festival jury member Brian Hall.