Project Synopsis

In May-June 2024, billions of periodical cicadas—seven subspecies from Broods XIII and XIX—emerged simultaneously in the forests of Illinois. For the first time since 1803, seven different species, each with a unique song, sang, chorused, flew, and mated altogether over the course of less than four weeks. This bicentennial event offered an opportunity to look back on North America’s history of colonization and its relationship with the land and the people who inhabit it, while also reflecting on our interconnectedness with the non-human world.

Part travelogue and part experiential fable, “The trees are hissing” draws on the meditative aesthetics of transcendental cinema, connecting, through a durational present and immediacy, various deep listeners attuned to the periodical cicadas’ songs—scientists, entomologists, musicians, historians, artists, activists, and others. In the quest for listening to this ancient, ephemeral, and elusive hissing sound, one may ask: what is an image from the future?

Artist Statement

“The trees are hissing” (shot in 2024 and scheduled for completion in 2027) is the second part of a documentary diptych about periodical cicadas. The first feature, “Eastern Anthems” (2024, co-directed with Jean-Jacques Martinod), was shot in 2021 during the return of Brood X, which emerges in the eastern United States every 17 years.

In 2024, Broods XIII and XIX emerged simultaneously in Illinois for the first time in 221 years, bringing together seven species whose distinct songs could be heard in the same places. We had the privilege of experiencing this extraordinary sonic event, and now attempt to share it through cinema.

Although periodical cicadas are at the heart of both “Eastern Anthems” and “The trees are hissing”, listening occupies a more central place in this new film, through attentive listening to sounds that had not been heard together in their full diversity and simultaneity since 1803, and that will not be recorded again until 2245. The film asks what traces—sonic and otherwise—such a brief, cyclical event might leave behind, and what will become of the people, spaces and places that witnessed it.

Over 221 years, Illinois’ geographical and acoustic landscape has been profoundly transformed. Intensive agriculture, urbanization, and colonization have reshaped forests and contributed to the disappearance of numerous species, giving rise to another kind of buzzing: that of the Anthropocene. Yet the scars of the past remain visible.

Ultimately, through an entomological and sonic quest into deep time, “The trees are hissing” becomes a metaphor for the North American continent: the imperialist gaze cast upon its land and resources; Indigenous populations uprooted and decimated; cycles of violence that persist across centuries; and the ever-accelerating pace of transformation of our time, alongside the ecological crisis that runs through it.

Crowdfunding Purpose

Funded primarily through Canadian sources, at levels below industry standards, “The trees are hissing” is now seeking international funding. The film is currently in post-production, with an estimated runtime of approximately 150 minutes. This process involves complex editing and ambitious sound design—all key elements of the film’s sensory architecture—which requires additional financial resources to properly compensate the artists involved. Hence, your support at this stage will ensure the completion of this documentary depicting a unique natural event that has never been recorded before.

Bios

Driven by a curiosity for new knowledge and a particular interest in the natural world, Matthew Wolkow (director-cinematographer) is a Quebec-based documentary filmmaker whose work reveals the people he encounters and the stories that emerge from them. Situated halfway between essay and experimentation, his films blend reality, imagination, words, music, and sensorialities. 

His films have been featured in retrospectives at the Cinémathèque québécoise, Chicago Filmmakers, and the Tënk streaming platform. They have also screened at festivals including IndieLisboa, Camden IFF, Budapest IFF, L’Alternativa, Montreal’s RIDM, Punto de Vista, and IFFI Goa—both FIAPF-accredited—as well as at institutions such as UnionDocs and museums and cinematheques in France, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. “Eastern Anthems”, his first feature-length film, won four awards and was theatrically released in Canada and Spain in 2025. He has also worked as a cinematographer and camera operator on films presented at Ji.hlava IDFF, Rotterdam’s IFFR, and the Berlinale Critics’ Week.

Alex Lane (sound designer) is a Canadian sound artist and musician from Halifax, Nova Scotia, currently based in Montreal. Primarily working in documentary and experimental cinema, Alex’s work has been presented at international festivals including the Berlinale, Rotterdam’s IFFR, Visions du Réel, Hot Docs, IDFA, FIDMarseille, and New Directors/New Films. He has designed the sound for internationally acclaimed films such as Intercepted by Oksana Karpovych (2024), and Bedrock by Kinga Michalska (2025). He has participated in Berlinale Talents and Locarno BaseCamp, and has received nominations from the Canadian Screen Awards and Cinema Eye Honors, as well as awards including the Prix Iris for Best Sound in a Documentary and the SACEM Prize for Best Original Score at Cinéma du Réel.

Jérémie Carvalho (editor), based in Montreal, has worked on feature-length and short documentary films, television series, and music videos, specializing in editing, motion design (2D and 3D), VFX, and color grading. He has collaborated on projects with the National Film Board of Canada, Radio-Canada, Télé-Québec, TV5, and Crave, and worked on films such as “Zug Island” by Nicolas Lachapelle and “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, winner of the 2026 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Louis-Jean Decazes (executive producer) is currently co-founding a film production company and developing his first project as an executive producer, “The trees are hissing”. He has worked as a film critic for various francophone magazines (Séquences, Spirale, 1895, Journal of Film Preservation) and as a freelance programmer, collaborating on the feature film selection at the FIAPF-accredited Festival du Nouveau Cinéma. He has also curated programs at the Cinémathèque québécoise, Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, and the Concordia Film Festival, which he co-directed. He recently began co-running the NPO L’image fantôme (“The Phantom Image”), dedicated to presenting restored films and Quebec shorts in Montreal.