A number of churches have invited their local community to watch The Age of Stupid, the cinema documentary from the director of McLibel and the producer of the Oscar-winning One Day in September. Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in a 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?
The Guardian has described the film as “the first successful dramatisation of climate change to hit the big screen”.
In the thought-provoking film, the character played by Pete Postlethwaite, ponders, “We could have saved ourselves, but we didn’t. What state of mind were we in to face extinction and simply shrug it off? … Is the answer, on some level, that we weren’t sure if we were worth saving?”
Showing the film is a great way to raise consciousness, especially if a local environmental expert is invited to introduce the film and chair a question-and-answer session afterwards. A good idea, too, is to give each member of the audience a list of eco tips to bring home with them. Send an email to [email protected] if you’d like a suggested list of eco tips.
Rathfarnham Parish Eco Group in Dublin invited members of their local community to a screening of The Age of Stupid in November. Introducing the evening, Sylvia Thompson of The Irish Times said that the film told the story of “planetary neglect” and that it had inspired a movement of people to take action against climate change. Its director, Fanny Armstrong, had become known throughout the world and was behind the international 10:10 movement, which challenges people, churches, businesses and organisations to cut their carbon emissions by 10 per cent by the end of 2010.
Ms Thompson chaired a lively question-answer session following the film in which a wide range of issues around climate change were discussed. People were also invited to take part in an eco quiz and were given a list of eco tips, action ideas and recommended eco books to take home.
Bannside Friends of the Earth showed the film in Coleraine and invited Dave Thomas of Christian Aid to speak after the showing. Ian Murray, one of the organisers of the event, says he would highly recommend showing the film: “The Age of Stupid was more personal [than An Inconvenient Truth] and involved the emotions of the people who took part. Our chairperson was in tears at the end of the film when she introduced our speaker; my eyes were moist as well when I thought how un-feeling about our planet many people feel about climate change.
“I’m sure those who see this film will be aware of what is happening now to climate, and will talk and think about what has been seen. If you can start early to advertise, and if you can get details into senior schools make this your priority, as the young people should be the ones to see it is their world of the future. And if we don’t start now looking after it, we will lose it!”
To find out how to rent the film, see www.indiescreenings.net.