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Synopsis

Jacob Andrén, an ordinary young man, reminisces on his days in primary school. He wonders about all those donor trees that he and his classmates bought. They received a certificate, he recalls. But that was almost 20 years ago. Did their efforts make a difference?

Jacob Andrén, an ordinary kid going to school in the 80's, was, as at many schools in the western world, involved in fundraising actions to "save the rainforest". Their teachers urged them to help by "buying a tree".

Now a grown up young man he is wondering about what happened to all those trees that he and his classmates bought with the money they made by selling stuff on the flea market. He remembers getting a certificate, but that was 20 years ago. Jacob decides to buy a plane ticket to try to find his tree and to find out if their effort did make a difference.

He starts with looking for the old certificate but it is hard to trace. While searching, he learns that over 400,000 Swedish kids did buy trees in the rainforest as well, and even more kids in other countries. But is that forest of 20 years ago still there? And where? And what threats are these forests facing today. Jacob wants to find the answers. He manages to find his old teacher from primary school, who tells him the forest he helped saving is in Costa Rica. She tells him that the forest was said to be protected forever, but she is only a teacher and cannot promise him that it is still there. This is when Jacob decides to go tracing his trees and look for himself to see what has become of them.

The film shows that individual action can make a difference, it is at the same time a reflection on the freedom of childhood and about using that inspiration to make a change.

A.P.

Wybrane nagrody i festiwale/Selected festivals and awards: 2010 - Hot Docs, Toronto, 2010 – FF BUFF/ BUFF FF, 2010 - TEMPO, 2010 - MFF Göteborg/Göteborg IFF.