A very good friend of mine (who runs a climate change group up in Wiltshire) recommended I watch the film Age of Stupid, so I did…..and recommend you watch it too. You can very easily download it on this website http://www.ageofstupid.net
The Age of Stupid is a 2008 film by Director Franny Armstrong (McLibel, Drowned Out) and first-time producer Lizzie Gillett. It is a co-production between Franny’s company Spanner Films and Executive Producer John Battsek‘s (One Day In September) company Passion Pictures.
Oscar-nominated 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?
The production was notable for its innovative way crowd-funding financing model, as well as the Indie Screenings distribution system which allows anyone anywhere to screen the film. The full story of the production of the film is told in the 50-minute Making Of documentary which is free to watch online and also available on the double-pack DVD.
The film was released in 2009 and became one of the most talked-about films of the year. It also spawned the hugely-successful 10:10 campaign.
I watched it about a week ago and it’s still churning round in my head. You could get pretty depressed watching it if you didn’t have anything positive to channel yourself into – luckily I have as we’ve just set up a Green Party in our local area of East Devon and I’m standing as a candidate for the Green Party at the next General Election in May 2010.