I’m With Stupid: Make the Change
Along with the majority of my generation, a certain domino-flicking, tap-dancing, teatime kids TV show left me with the lifelong desire to secure a place in The Guinness Book of Records. And thanks to a very interesting event that my local Vue took part in this Sunday, I have now officially fulfilled that dream: I am now a bone fide record-breaker.
Granted, I didn’t get the medal, eternal respect from my entire school, or a handshake from Roy Castle, but I did take part in something pretty cool – the world’s biggest film premiere of what could potentially be the world’s most important film, The Age of Stupid.
The Age of Stupid is a new movie directed by Franny Armstrong of McLibel fame, with a similarly tiny budget. It is a terrifying exploration of the realities of global warming and what will happen to the planet if people continue living as they are now. Oscar nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living in the devastated wasteland of earth circa 2055, trawling through documentary footage from 2008 and asking why didn’t we act? Why didn’t we stop global warming while we still had a chance?
The makers certainly led by example with their eco premiere. Not only was it the biggest in the world, it produced just 1% of the amount of carbon emissions of a standard film premiere. Guests arrived at the green carpet in Leicester Square by bicycle, public transport or electric car, watched the film in a solar powered tent, or saw the whole event beamed into their local Vue cinema, cutting down even further the need for transport.
The film took four years to produce, is very well thought out and delivered. Although its message is so undeniably important and the team behind it so passionate, The Age of Stupid does, on the whole, manage to stay away from the Michael Moore school of film-making and offers facts, not agenda-ridden opinions. It is a film, it’s a campaign, it’s a call to action, and I do not think anyone could watch this movie and not leave the cinema inspired to change.
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