THE AGE OF STUPID

[John Jordan]

I just returned from giving a talk at the distributed premiere of THE AGE OF STUPID a shattering film about climate change, a docu fiction set in the future in a post climate catastrophe world... the premiere was the worlds largest simultaneous premiere, featured in 65 different cinemas all linked up by satellite ... and all this done by an independent documentary which got all its funding via crowd funding and not TV/film companies. The film leaves one in shock and for me most revolutions ( and thats what we need if we are to stop the world boiling into a lifelessness ) occur when there are sparks of hope around. Despair destroys the revolutionary imagination and this film leaves one paralysed by hopelessness .. However i would urge people to look at it and especially the way it has been produced, funded and launched.. merging activism and distribution etc..

[Beth Carruthers]

Hello John. Good to see you here.
I too believe that what is required is hope. There is no shortage of despair going around and more to come. It seems to me that real strength is required to locate and proclaim hope - and knit something from it. These are huge things we see before us. I recall this from Jonathan Porrit: "One of the reasons why we got The Arts for The Earth going was specifically to try and communicate not just the awful despair about collapsing ecosystems but also to remind people of the power of that joyful relationship which is such an important part… it isn't by forcing things onto people, it is by this lateral approach, very often evocative rather than didactic, that you can make such powerful messages available to people."

[theron schmidt]

Thanks John for your reminder, as always, of the politics of revolutionary hope -- not at all the same thing as naivete or armchair idealism, as your work makes clear, but instead something practical, material, and demonstrable.