Climate Change / Environment / Sustainability - Film
This page provides links to key documentary films relating to Climate Change, Environmental issues and sustainability. It also includes links to related articles, reading and organisations to provide context.
THE AGE OF STUPID (2009) Dir. FRANNY ARMSTRONG
The Age of Stupid
‘The Age of Stupid is a 2009 British documentary film by Franny Armstrong, director of McLibel (1997) and Drowned Out (2002), and founder of 10:10, and first-time producer Lizzie Gillett.
The film is a drama-documentary-animation hybrid which stars Pete Postlethwaite as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, watching archival film and asking, "Why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?"
The makers of The Age of Stupid were among the first to use the crowdfunding model and pioneered a new distribution system, Indie Screenings, which allows anyone, anywhere, to hold a screening of the film and keep the profits for themselves.’ Wiki
Ten years after climate movie The Age of Stupid had its green-carpet, solar-powered premiere, we follow its director as she revisits people and places from the film and asks: are we still heading for the catastrophic future it depicted?
The team behind The Age of Stupid also release this new film on 15th March 2019 - ten years to the day since Age of Stupid launched at its green-carpet, solar-powered premiere. And also the day of the first ever *global* schools strike. Poetic indeed.
WATCH THE FULL FILM - LINKS TO STREAMING…
The Making of Age of Stupid
50 minute documentary following every stage of the epic five year battle to make The Age of Stupid climate blockbuster, from early funding meetings in London to kidnap close-calls in Nigeria and from filming with Pete Postlethwaite to recording the full orchestral score.
PIE NET ZERO
“When firebrand TV reporter Jonathan Pie gets a gig presenting eco-filmmaker Franny Armstrong’s new documentary about climate change he thinks he’s in for a jolly couple of days by the seaside.”
PIE NET ZERO is the new short film from the director of THE AGE OF STUPID and the creator of JONATHAN PIE, released on 24th January 2020.
"Jonathan Pie: The World's End"
"Jonathan Pie: The World's End" is a short film filmed at COP26 by comedian Tom Walker (Jonathan Pie) and director Franny Armstrong (The Age of Stupid, McLibel, 10:10).
DON’T LOOK UP - Parallels?
The film ‘Don’t Look Up’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio has many similarities with ‘Age of Stupid’, whilst it the story revolves around a fictional story of comet about to hit earth, it’s clear this can be seen as a relatable metaphor for how we are ignoring the impacts of Climate Change.
George Monbiot, who feature’s in ‘Age of Stupid’ film has said that “Watching ‘Don’t Look Up’ made me see my whole life of campaigning flash before me” adding “I’ve broken down on TV too, trying to explain the horror of the climate crisis to those who wield power and do nothing”. “The movie is, in my view, a powerful demolition of the grotesque failures of public life. And the sector whose failures are most brutally exposed is the media.” Read interview here
This Changes Everything - Capitalism vs the Climate – Naomi Klein
The feature documentary was developed in parallel to the critically acclaimed worldwide bestselling book This Changes Everything – Capitalism vs the Climate by Naomi Klein. We have a copy of this book in our library at UCW.
The video below is an extract from the feature film for Guardian Docs
Climate Change - The Facts- David Attenborough - BBC
‘After one of the hottest years on record, Sir David Attenborough looks at the science of climate change and potential solutions to this global threat. Interviews with some of the world’s leading climate scientists explore recent extreme weather conditions such as unprecedented storms and catastrophic wildfires. They also reveal what dangerous levels of climate change could mean for both human populations and the natural world in the future.’
A Realistic Guide To Sustainable Fashion | i-D
‘With the fashion industry now being named one of the world's leading polluters, It's time to take action. Five young creatives share tips and tricks on how you can enjoy fashion responsibly. Whether you're buying, maintaining or disposing of clothes, there's always a more sustainable answer.’ - Great short video feature from i-D Magazine.
Rotate - sustainable fashion magazine by UCW Photography Students
Rotate. is a sustainable fashion magazine that is made to inspire people to become more ethical and aware of their fashion choices.
SLAY (2022)
’From the makers of award-winning films Cowspiracy and What The Health, SLAY follows filmmaker Rebecca Cappelli’s journey around the world to uncover the dark side of the fashion industry. Rebecca's investigation into the animal skins trade unravels a harrowing story of greenwashing, mislabeling, animal cruelty and cover-ups from some of the world's major luxury fashion brands. SLAY provides an in-depth and eye-opening look into the realities of today’s fashion industry while pointing the way towards viable and sustainable alternatives.Are you ready to get under fashion’s skin?’
You can watch SLAY and other films for free, on WaterBear
WaterBear
‘WaterBear is THE home of short films, stories and feature documentaries, covering positive solutions to our changing world. Join FREE and watch FREE forever.’
The Anthropocene
‘A cinematic meditation on humanity’s massive reengineering of the planet, ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch is a four years in the making feature documentary film from the multiple-award winning team of Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky.
Third in a trilogy that includes Manufactured Landscapes (2006) and Watermark (2013), the film follows the research of an international body of scientists, the Anthropocene Working Group who, after nearly 10 years of research, are arguing that the Holocene Epoch gave way to the Anthropocene Epoch in the mid-twentieth century, because of profound and lasting human changes to the Earth.’
Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion is an international movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction and minimise the risk of social collapse. Below is one of their campaigns videos (with Radiohead soundtrack) and a short documentary ‘The Deliberate Rebellion’ featuring music by Massive Attack
2040
Award-winning director Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film) embarks on a journey to explore what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them rapidly into the mainstream. Structured as a visual letter to his 4-year-old daughter, Damon blends traditional documentary with dramatised sequences and high-end visual effects to create a vision board of how these solutions could regenerate the world for future generations. https://whatsyour2040.com/
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
‘An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 American concert/documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate people about global warming. The film features a slide show that, by Gore's own estimate, he has presented over 1,000 times to audiences worldwide.
Since the film's release, An Inconvenient Truth has been credited for raising international public awareness of global warming and reenergizing the environmental movement. The documentary has also been included in science curricula in schools around the world, which has spurred some controversy. A sequel to the film, titled An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, was released on July 28, 2017.’ - Wikipedia
WATCH ON DVD - We have a copy of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ on DVD at UCW / Weston College Libraries - Loxton Campus and/ or Winter Gardens.
COWSPIRACY
SEASPIRACY
As with all films (+ articles, books…) we should of course question the sources, motives, facts and methods used. Below is some critiques of the film.
How the Media helped create Climate Change | George Monbiot
Double Down News - 23/8/21
“They allowed this entire shitfest to happen”
Cop26
‘The UK hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021.
The COP26 summit brought parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.’
More details on Cop26 website: https://ukcop26.org/
Climate Exhibition September 2019 - UCW
Friday September 20th 2019 students around the world asked workers to join them to take action about Climate Change. At UCW Loxton campus, we held an exhibition and a series of screenings to discuss the role some Film makers and Photographers are having in this struggle.
This included:
TALK - Climate Change - How Photography can make a difference - Sam Brooks - Programme Coordinator FdA Photography in Practice.
Exhibition - ‘The Iron Lung’ - Ellie Morgan
Screening - ‘Age of Stupid’
Click on links above for more details.
ACTION
Some links to UK Student Climate Network, Extinction Rebellion and other groups committed to action.
Reading
Our Library has many of the following books, some of the films above and additional materials
No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference (2019) Greta Thunberg (Author). Penguin
This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook (2019) Extinction Rebellion (Author). Penguin
The Environmental Documentary - Cinema Activism in the 21st Century - John A. Duvall (2017)
Honourable Friends?: Parliament and the Fight for Change – Caroline Lucas (2015)
Related Articles and other films to watch
Watch the Emmy nominated viral video “Message from the Future” produced by Naomi Klein about the Green New Deal, co-written and narrated by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“A Message From the Future II: The Years of Repair” is an animated short film that dares to dream of a future in which 2020 is a historic turning point, where the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic and global uprisings against racism drive us to build back a better society in which no one is sacrificed and everyone is essential. The film is a sequel to the 2019 Emmy-nominated short film “A Message From the Future”
Sustainability in Filmmaking