Worth: $16.50
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Cast:
Tim Flannery, Al Gore, Malcolm Turnbull, Paul Knight, Chief Esau Kekeubata, Tishiko King
Intro:
... much more than a ‘worthy’ documentary about an important subject. Helmed by Tim Flannery, it’s involving and interesting.
With its beautiful cinematography, Climate Changers is much more than a ‘worthy’ documentary about an important subject. Helmed by Tim Flannery, it’s involving and interesting.
One-time palaeontologist, 2007 Australian of the Year and a leading scientific voice on climate action, Flannery is careful with his tone here – you can see he wants to talk about this without ruffling too many feathers. Some of Flannery the man seeps through as he touches on the toll that the critics have had, and in many ways Climate Changers is a film about people as much as it is about the environment …
It revolves around a single question – where is the leadership on climate? Saul Griffith, the barefoot chief scientist for Rewiring Australia, agrees with Flannery. There’s been a “dearth of political leadership,” he says, and on a global scale.
Flannery goes searching for climate leaders, but he doesn’t have to go too far to find them with some admirable and articulate voices right in our Pacific backyard. Uili Lousi, Tonga’s Climate Change Ambassador, fights back tears as he speaks to Flannery. “We’re going to go underwater like Atlantis,” he says.
Some of the documentary features the Hawkesbury River in NSW, where the Flannery family have a riverfront property – it’s a gorgeous area that’s had the whole gamut of climate disasters thrown at it: drought, fire and floods. Over in Glasgow, Flannery attends COP (Conference of Parties), an annual international climate meeting hosted by the UN. It’s here that he interviews Al Gore. It’s a brief but powerful interview where the former US Vice President explains how his son’s hospitalisation led him to become an environmental activist.
Politics is never too far away, with the climate leader who never was, Malcolm Turnbull, putting in an appearance. Flannery introduces him as a “dear friend”, makes excuses for him, and mentions that the former Liberal PM was “probably in the wrong party”. Turnbull, of course, speaks brilliantly, as do many of the others here, some of them very inspiring, with Flannery’s partner, writer Kate Holden, adding insight into Flannery the man.
A strong documentary, Climate Changers ends on a hopeful note and covers a lot of scorched ground in a mere hour.
A Climate Changers screening and live Q&A event will take place on Sunday September 17 at 5.30pm AEST. Following a screening of the film, actor and climate advocate Yael Stone will moderate a live Q&A with Professor Tim Flannery, Dr. Saul Griffith and Kavita Naidu. The Q&A will be live streamed to cinemas around the country, inviting audiences to enjoy a robust and insightful discussion on the topic of climate leadership. Audience questions from around the nation will be submitted through a real-time app and relayed to the panelists for response.
SCREENING LOCATIONS:
NSW: Ritz Cinemas Randwick, Dendy Newtown, The Regent Murwillumbah, Avoca Beach Picture Theatre, Village Cinemas Albury, Gala Cinemas Warrawong, Roxy Nowra
VIC: Lido Cinema, Classic Elsternwick, Cameo Cinemas, Village Cinemas Jam Factory, Village Cinemas Geelong, Village Cinemas Bendigo, Village Cinemas Crown Casino, Village Cinemas Morwell, Village Cinemas Warrnambool, Village Cinemas Werribee and Theatre Royal Castlemaine.
QLD: New Farm Cinemas, Dendy Coorparoo, Regal Cinema Graceville, Angelika Film Centre – Woolloongabba | TAS: Village Cinemas Launceston, State Cinema Hobart, Village Cinemas Glenorchy
SA: Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Wallis Cinemas – Mitcham, Wallis Cinemas – Mt Barker
ACT: Dendy Canberra | WA: Luna Leederville
Further information at: https://climatechangersmovie.com/screenings/
