- Greengaged

The Age of Stupid

By Kate Andrews on Jun 22, 2009 at 02:17 AM | 0 comments

Pitched to be this year's most talked-about climate change film, The Age of Stupid is a new movie from director Franny Armstrong (of McLibel) and producer John Battsek (of One Day In September). In this epic tale, Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

On Friday 22nd May 2009, I attended the first Indie Screenings of the film at London's Royal Society of the Arts, and the film is absolutely incredible - a truly remarkable summary of how urgent we all need to change our behaviour. I left overwhelmed but determined to share this film with many. The Guardian Environment have got a wonderful documentary of 'Team Stupid' revealing the lengths they went to - from kidnapping threats in Nigeria to 'crowd-funding' in London - to make the film.

Following the screening, Film Director Franny Armstrong took to the stage and was joined in a panel discussion by George Monbiot, writer and campaigner; Dr Richard Betts, head of climate impacts at the Met Office and Lord Stern, economist and author of the Stern Review. The discussion was broadcast live across the internet and to Age of Stupid screenings around the country. The evening also featured an exclusive video broadcast from Dr. Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Vice-President of the Maldives, on “Climate and Change and the Art of the Possible”. The Maldives is the first country to commit to going carbon neutral in ten years. You can also read a full story about President Mohamed Nasheed watching the film at the New York Times Magazine.

As the film credits began, a large digital clock lit up, counting down to the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP15), which will take place in Copenhagen in December 2009. 'We have seven months to really make the change happen, and to do that we need pressure and people power,' Franny explained.

You can see and hear the evenings discussion, during which Stern suggested the West should meet China half-way over who owns which emissions. You can see more photos from the RSA screening of The Age of Stupid on flickr. To organise your own screening, visit AgeofStupid.net - Everyone should see this film!