The second Transition Town Totnes Film Festival - This Changes Everything
Last year Totnes hosted the first TTT Film Festival, the first Transition film festival in the country and only the second in the world. Building on the success of that weekend, we are excited to announce a second Totnes Festival, taking place on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th November at the Civic Hall.
As the intertwined realities of climate change and economic injustice become harder to ignore, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, despairing, angry, numb or unsure how to respond. The intention of the film festival is to offer a weekend of information, hope and community through films, workshops and discussions, and positive, dynamic ways for people to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. To understand what resilient communities can look like, and how we might create this in our own neighbourhoods.
This year we are very excited to announce our headlining film - This Changes Everything. Recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, inspired by Naomi Klein’s international non-fiction bestseller of the same name and directed by Avi Lewis, This Changes Everything was filmed on five continents over four years. The film presents seven powerful portraits of communities fighting for their existence, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond. Interwoven with their stories is Klein’s narration, connecting the carbon in the air with the economic system that put it there and building on Klein’s most controversial and exciting idea: that we can seize the opportunity of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better. This is something TTT has been saying since its inception so it’s nice to have one of the brightest minds on the planet in agreement.
We are very honoured and excited to have been given permission to show this film, and grateful to all the directors and producers who are granting us licences for their work. As well as TCE we will be screening a mix of feature length and short films with themes of community, economy, environment, education, transport, empowerment and design as well as climate change. Also on offer will be film-maker led workshops for both beginners and experienced participants (young and all ages), discussions with those film-makers who are able to join us (including a Q&A session with Klein via Skype), and also with experts able to shed light on climate change and how we can respond in positive ways. Atossa Solatani of international campaigning group Amazon Watch will be joining Totnesian Hilary Prentice for a discussion after the inspirational documentary Children of the Jaguar on Saturday afternoon, and Louis Fox of the Story of Stuff, will be joining us for a chat on Sunday morning. Our own Matt Harvey will be talking to us about the development of his SWIMBY musical project later in the day.
Other film highlights include Two Raging Grannies, a touching, thoughtful and provocative documentary that challenges the idea we must continue to shop to keep the economy growing and jobs secure, Rooted Spirits, made by seven Buckfastleigh teenagers (with a bit of help from Jellyfish Productions) and Microtopia.
For ticket sales and full programme information visit: www.transitionfilmfestival.org.uk
We need volunteers to help on the weekend, in exchange for a film, day or weekend pass. Please contact us via the website if you are interested.
Transition Town Totnes 