(Pictured above: Project Greenman founder Jeff Arsenault hopes to use the new video to promote the initiative in commercial theatres and on the Internet.) 

(Winchester) - An educational project that has sent seeds to the peak of Mount Everest and the depths of the Atlantic Ocean may soon make it to the silver screen.

Project Greenman, the brainchild of Winchester Public School educational assistant Jeff Arsenault, will be the subject of a short film created by Vancouver-based producer/director C. J. Wallis. The video, which Arsenault hopes to circulate at commercial  theatres as well as on the Net, will discuss the history of seed preservation and then link it to the Project Greenman initiative, which seeks to grow an interest in gardening among Canada’s youth.

Wallis is the director of two independent films - the 2006 production Circumference about a man’s struggle with a failed marriage, and the 2009 production Last Flowers about an author dealing with rejection who finds solace by sneaking into funerals as a bizarre form of self-help therapy.

Wallis was interested in helping the Greenman project because he believes in the cause, the director said in an email. He was also pleased with Arsenault’s work ethic and all the extra hours he puts in to keep Project Greenman growing.

The director said he was impressed by the images associated with the project such as the Greenman “secret agents’ used to market the initiative – children dressed in dark suits, with bright green ties, secret agent sunglasses, and secret-service style earpieces. 

The three-minute video will talk about the history of seed preservation and gardening. It will begin with an animated section on Columbus and how he imported tomatoes to the Spanish court after discovering them on his travels to the new world in 1493. It will move on to discuss seed preservation by the Soviets during the Second World War, and provide information on the Greenman team, which is promoting the preservation of seeds by encouraging children to garden.

The idea behind the piece is to show students that seeds and gardening have been important to people for centuries, and that by adopting gardening as a pastime they are carrying on a tradition that is not only a great hobby, but teaches self-sufficiency. It also contributes to the preservation of diverse varieties of flowers, vegetables and other plants, he said.

“The video will be fantastic because it gives me another tool that I can use to promote gardening,” said Arsenault.  “We can use it to create hype about gardening.”

In an age where children spend more and more time in front of the television set and video games, reconnecting with the land, and nurturing life through it, is becoming increasingly important.

“I want to teach kids about gardening because it helps develop social skills,” said Arsenault. “It teaches us to care about other things and helps develop patience because you have to work for something and wait for it to grow.

“And personally, I’ve developed so many new friendships through gardening.”

This is Arsenault’s latest initiative through Project Greenman. In the spring of 2008, he sent seeds to the top of Mount Everest with a climbing team. The idea was to see how the seeds were affected by exposure to high altitudes. When the seeds returned, he distributed them to children in the Winchester, Cornwall and Morrisburg area as well as to schools in the United States. The students were then asked to take part in a massive science experiment by growing the sunflower seeds and reporting any unnatural growth of the plants that resulted.

He has sent seeds to the ocean depths on a Canadian submarine, and hopes to send seeds beyond the earth’s atmosphere as part of the first commercial space flight on Virgin Galactic.

The video project should be finished within the coming weeks.

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For more information, please contact:

Jeff Arsenault

Educational Assistant

Winchester Public School

613-774-2607