That's the idea behind The Age of Stupid, a genre-bending, independently financed film directed by Franny Armstrong (McLibel, Drowned Out). "I wanted to make a film on my lifelong obsession, climate change," says Armstrong, who found herself compelled to explore the question of how our generation could stand idly by and do nothing in the face of what we know.Inspired by the structure of Steven Soderbergh's fictional exploration of the drug war, Traffic, an early version of the film followed six loosely connected stories in documentary format around themes of climate change and global development. But Armstrong believed that in order for the film to be an effective catalyst for action, it would need to do more than simply inform; it needed to inspire. Hence the addition of Postlethwaite's archivist, and the harrowing animation of a bleak-but potentially avoidable-future.The Age of Stupid, which features music by Radiohead and Depeche Mode and includes documentary footage filmed in America, the United Kingdom, India, Nigeria, Iraq, Jordan, and The Alps, premieres today in New York City and Canada, and tomorrow in 75 countries around the world. Residents of every other country in the world will be able to watch the film online for free here for the next month. It's no coincidence that the film's release comes just days before the UN General Assembly's session on climate change, as the filmmaker hopes it can catalyze the groundswell necessary to motivate people toward real and sweeping action. From the looks of the trailer, it just might.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZjsJdokC0s
That's the idea behind The Age of Stupid, a genre-bending, independently financed film directed by Franny Armstrong (McLibel, Drowned Out). "I wanted to make a film on my lifelong obsession, climate change," says Armstrong, who found herself compelled to explore the question of how our generation could stand idly by and do nothing in the face of what we know.Inspired by the structure of Steven Soderbergh's fictional exploration of the drug war, Traffic, an early version of the film followed six loosely connected stories in documentary format around themes of climate change and global development. But Armstrong believed that in order for the film to be an effective catalyst for action, it would need to do more than simply inform; it needed to inspire. Hence the addition of Postlethwaite's archivist, and the harrowing animation of a bleak-but potentially avoidable-future.The Age of Stupid, which features music by Radiohead and Depeche Mode and includes documentary footage filmed in America, the United Kingdom, India, Nigeria, Iraq, Jordan, and The Alps, premieres today in New York City and Canada, and tomorrow in 75 countries around the world. Residents of every other country in the world will be able to watch the film online for free here for the next month. It's no coincidence that the film's release comes just days before the UN General Assembly's session on climate change, as the filmmaker hopes it can catalyze the groundswell necessary to motivate people toward real and sweeping action. From the looks of the trailer, it just might.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZjsJdokC0s
