"Leave climate change deniers behind" - 'Anthropocene' filmmakers hope to incite more climate action

Record ID: 1435292

  • Title: "Leave climate change deniers behind" - 'Anthropocene' filmmakers hope to incite more climate action
  • Date: 4th October 2019
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 27, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PHOTOGRAPHER AND FILMMAKER, EDWARD BURTYNSKY, SAYING: "Rarely have humans faced a problem this complex and this tough to solve but it's no longer optional to say it's just federal or it's just a state situation or it's just the cities or it's just businesses or it's just people in their homes, it's all of it." (SOUNDBITE) (English) FILMMAKER, JENNIFER BAICHWAL, SAYING: "NGO's are too slow.... NGO's have no money, governments are too slow, bodies like the UN are way too huge - they're like a big ship, turning it around takes too long - so we're acting. We're by-passing all of that and we're just going to act on our own. I think the time for debating whether these things are happening is over. I mean, we're wasting time and energy debating whether climate change is real. That's over. We just have to act now and leave those people behind."
  • Embargoed: 18th October 2019 23:34
  • Keywords: Anthropocene film environment climate change mankind photography human development
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS;
  • City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS;
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA00CAZOOK7T
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: 'Anthropocene: The Human Epoch' is hoping to inspire further action on climate change, with the film showcasing provocative shots of vast man-made structures and activity that is replacing the natural environments on the planet.
    Although the term 'anthropocene' has only been accepted by sections of the scientific community, the film aims to help audiences understand that humans have undeniably brought the planet into a new era.
    Jennifer Baichwal, who co-directed the film with Nicholas de Pencier, told Reuters "These scientists who are part of the Anthropocene Working Group who have been doing research for 13 years on human influence on the systems of the earth, have concluded that we have the Holocene and we are in the Anthropocene epoch because humans now change the earth and its systems more than all natural processes combined. That's the level we've got to of impact."
    The film is based on a series of images by photographer Edward Burtynsky, who began taking photographs of mines and quarries back in the 1980s and came on board this project as a co-director.
    He told Reuters he believes that the damage in recent years to the planet is akin to the asteroid that is believed to have killed the dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago.
    He said "We, I believe, are having an equivalent impact on the planet like an asteroid would, except that it's kind of one singular species, the top predator on the planet with consciousness is overtaking the planet and systematically pushing back all natural forces and all natural systems and biodiversity and putting it to the purpose of supporting us as a species."
    The film, which is sparsely narrated by Swedish Oscar winner Alicia Vikander, contains what appear to be beautiful, aesthetic images but on closer inspection are large and grotesque altered landscapes.
    Baichwal said "We spent an awful lot of energy going around the world to find places that are the most salient examples of the research of the scientists, that are kind of jaw-dropping examples so that you are dumbfounded and then completely moved and sometimes a bit recoiling in disgust at what you're looking at and then you realize your connection to these places."
    'Anthropocene: The Human Epoch' was shown in cinemas last week in the US and Canada to mark the climate change marches around the world. They hope the film and its imagery will push audiences into action.
    "NGO's have no money, governments are too slow, bodies like the UN are way too huge," said Biachwal, adding We're by-passing all of that and we're just going to act on our own. I think the time for debating whether these things are happening is over. I mean, we're wasting time and energy debating whether climate change is real. That's over. We just have to act now and leave those people behind."
    The film is currently being shown in select cinemas across the United States.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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