Presented out of competition, the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ by Davis Guggenheim follows former American Vice-President Al Gore in his determination to denounce the world's inaction faced with the global warming of the planet.
Al Gore at Cannes © AFP
Ever since his defeat in the presidential elections of 2000, Gore has criss-crossed the globe to give conferences and alert public opinion as to the dangers of this imminent ecological disaster.
Director Davis Guggenheim filmed one of these presentations during which Al Gore explains all the alarming facts. ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ is also an intimate portrait, a "log" of the crusade of a man who worries about the future of his fellow men.
"To look at this guy, recalls the filmmaker, and tell yourself that he will appear in the history books of your grandchildren would be enough to paralyze you. But, the more I spent time with him, the more I discovered his profound humanity. Al Gore became for me this fascinating man, composed and full of humor, who equally possessed encyclopedic knowledge about global warming,” said Guggenheim.
“And then, I discovered in him a remarkable character who had made a heroic choice after a traumatizing trial, deciding to put everything aside to dedicate his life to a cause about which no one wished to speak. Receptive to strong emotions, I felt that something intense could be given off from this rebirth following 2000 and Al's fight to try to save the world."
Director Davis Guggenheim, Al Gore and producers Laurie David, Leslie Chilcott, Lawrence Bender and Scott Burns answered questions at the ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ press conference.
Some excerpts:
Al Gore on the film opening in the US: “The movie opens next week in the United States, but we have had a number of screenings already and I can tell you that regardless of political party, people who have seen this movie have reacted all the same way. They have been moved by it.
Even if they knew about the crisis before, they come out understanding it in a new way and feeling a sense of urgency that they did not have previously. That is the same reaction that I was been receiving to the slide show, but the difference is that I have been showing my slides to a couple of hundred people at a time in city after city.
This movie will open widely, first in New York and Los Angeles, but then in the successive weeks it will open in other cities until it is in wide release. “
On the film festival platform: “Cannes is unique and this is the first showing to an international audience. In the United States, it did show at Sundance.
There are many places throughout the world where we expect this movie to be shown. This is a planetary emergency; it is a challenge to our moral imagination, to understand it and then to respond to it urgently.
It is a climate crisis and it demands an ethical response right now. This unique festival is an opportunity for distributors in various parts of the world to see this movie and we're very hopeful that it will have the widest possible release all around the world.”
Davis Guggenheim on how people can respond to the issues: “I have been with Al and the producers to many American cities and afterwards when the lights come up, there's always a standing ovation and people's faces are exhilarated.
The reason why I think that they read little pieces about global warming which gives them anxiety, but Al has done this incredible job of pulling all the information together, connecting all the dots and giving people solutions, so that by the end of the movie they have learned about the problem, they see that it's urgent and they're on a path to making themselves feel better and changing the world. “
Al Gore on US citizens lagging behind in this struggle: “ I think that up until fairly recently, the United States has been in a bubble of unreality as far as global warming is concerned – the rest of the world having recognized it and joined the international treaty. I do believe that the people are way ahead of the politicians.
I even believe there is a chance that within the next two years, even Bush and Cheney will be forced to change their position on this crisis. Reality proper has a way of insisting itself upon you. Mother Nature has joined this debate with a very powerful and persuasive voice.”
Davis Guggenheim interjected: “I would also say that one of the reasons we all decided to make this movie is that the message that Al has is not political. The message is for all parties on all sides and that's the way we will think of it.”
Al Gore on China: “I know for a fact that China is deeply concerned about this crisis. Their scientists are among the top scientists in the world working on this question. They know the dangers they themselves face. They now have higher environmental standards than some Western countries and they have just passed, last March, a mandatory target for reducing greenhouse gas pollution. I hope they will continue following through with more solutions.”
On the profits made from the film and book: “My wife Tipper and I are devoting 100% of whatever profits we receive from both the movie and the book to a new organization of The Alliance for Climate Protection that environmental groups in the United States have helped to initiate, but goes beyond environmental groups to include faith groups, labor and business groups and they are planning now a nation-wide persuasion campaign in the United States.
And in fact, Paramount has done something unprecedented in agreeing to contribute 5% of its domestic gross from this movie. They have already committed $5,000 as a minimum.”
Producer Laurie David on what we can do everyday: “This is what is so exciting about this issue is that there is so much that we can do as individuals and it's a whole long list. It's really not about doing everything but about doing something. It's not about sacrifice, it's about change. They have come up with a better light bulb. This is almost shocking; it's almost 66% more efficient. I find this fact stunning. If every household in America changed just five bulbs, it would be equivalent to taking 8 million cars off the road for a year. Surely we can all do that. And there's a whole long list of things like this.”
And finally Al Gore on the purpose of the movie: “The whole purpose of the movie and the book, the training program, the website, The Alliance, all of this is aimed at moving the United States of America first and then the world as a whole to pass that tipping point beyond which the political system shifts from moving in a frustrating very slow way to a sudden dramatic change.”
© Festival de Cannes
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