Connect4Climate partnered with AfriDocs to present a week of climate change films to coincide with the United Nations Framework on Climate Change COP meeting in Lima, Peru.
During this week some of the world’s best climate films will be screened across sub-Saharan Africa on DStv channel ED (channel 190) and GOtv (channel 65). For the full program schedule and synopses of the films, please go to www.afridocs.net
The documentary films from across the globe bring the global discussions between countries back down to a human level – sharing stories of how climate change is already affecting some of the world’s most vulnerable peoples.
The screenings include Black Ice, telling the story of Greenpeace’s ‘Arctic 30’ campaign, and Beyond Prayer, which chronicles the building of artificial glaciers to provide water to farmers in the Ladakh summers. Char – The No-Man’s Island depicts Meet Rubel, a fourteen-year-old boy, smuggling rice from India to Bangladesh, and Carbon for Water highlights innovative solutions to improve the health of millions of Kenyans.
There Once Was An Island shows the reality of sea level rise for the culturally unique Polynesian community of Takuu, a tiny low-lying atoll in the South Western Pacific. Climate for Change is an inspiring and optimistic look at the efforts of everyday people all over the world who are making a difference in the fight against global warming. Bad Weather documents a tiny “brothel island” off the coast of Bangladesh and how climate change is affecting the community.
From India and Kenya to the Pacific Islands and the USA, these films share stories of communities overcoming the very real challenges presented by climate change.
A series of short films produced for the Action4Climate challenge will also be screened during the week. The Action4Climate competition, organized by the global communications program Connect4Climate, challenged young filmmakers to raise awareness of climate change, share experiences and inspire action by creating a video documentary. Of the hundreds of films sent in the following winning entries will be shown across sub-Saharan Africa:
The Trail of a Tale. The first place winner of the competition, this film from Portugal is a letter from the future written to our recent past, telling us how the world “turned out right”. It follows the trail of someone that left words written, words of change, of action.
Global Warning. This second place winning film from Bulgaria is a documentary about the super typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines on 8 November 2013.
Snows of the Nile. Third place winning film from the USA. Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains rise 5000m from the heart of Africa. At their summits are some of Earth’s only equatorial glaciers. But these “Mountains of the Moon”, whose existence caused a sensation in Europe when they were first climbed in 1906, are disappearing fast.
Today’s young people will suffer the consequences of the emissions created by previous generations. Young people’s messages about climate change can serve as valuable reminders of the need for urgent action.
Their stories can also serve as messages of hope. Around the world, young people are showing initiative and taking on climate change in their communities – from building wind turbines to developing mobile apps that encourage recycling to leading political movements that call for policymakers to take action.
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