Our Last Chance

Old science + new science

Details

Our Last Chance chronicles an unprecedented scientific collaboration in Queensland's Mary River catchment - the first comprehensive survey of threatened species in over 30 years. Following the devastating 2022 floods, this film captures the urgency of a region at a tipping point, where ancient species like the 100-million-year-old lungfish face extinction alongside Mary River cod and endangered turtles. Through the eyes of ecologists, Traditional Owners, and natural resource managers, we witness a race against time to map, measure, and protect what remains. This isn't just scientific documentation - it's a story of knowledge systems converging, of dormant cultural wisdom reawakening, and of communities breaking down silos to face an environmental crisis together. As one voice in the film warns: "This might be our last best chance to make a difference."

CATEGORIES

Science

Place

Year

2024

The production embedded with the Burnett Mary Regional Group (BMRG) as they undertook their most ambitious field programme to date - 60 sites sampled in just eight weeks using both traditional methods and cutting-edge environmental DNA technology. Cameras followed teams through pre-dawn electroshocking sessions, captured the precise choreography of fyke netting, and documented those rare moments of celebration when endangered species emerged from murky waters. The film captures Traditional Owners returning to Country, their knowledge of the land proving essential to understanding species distribution. The collaboration revealed itself in small gestures - shared laughter around campfires, the patient teaching of cultural protocols, scientists learning to read Country through Indigenous eyes. What emerged was more than data; it was a new model for conservation where Western science and Indigenous knowledge systems don't just coexist but actively strengthen each other.

This story demanded a visual approach that could hold multiple perspectives without privileging one over another. Our Last Chance weaves between intimate handheld moments - a researcher's joy at finding a lungfish, a Traditional Owner's hand touching sacred water - and wider compositional frames that place human effort within the vast scale of environmental degradation. Conversations unfold naturally, capturing the rawness of concern in unguarded moments: "I used to question if we've lost stuff, and now I say nothing's lost... that knowledge isn't lost, it's asleep." The film's rhythm mirrors the urgency of its subject - quick cuts during intensive sampling, longer holds when Traditional Owners speak of generational responsibility. By documenting this convergence of old science and new science, the film creates a blueprint for environmental action that others can follow. This is storytelling as catalyst, filmed with the understanding that watching might be the first step towards doing.