1Minute to Save the World - Press Release
1 Minute To Save The World Goes Live - London – 24 July 2009
International Climate Change Campaign Launches
"The great thing about a one minute film is that it can be as pure and passionate as an idea. It does not need to be polluted by becoming an enterprise, a complexity or the desire to make it a work of art." Shekhar Kapur for 1 Minute To Save The World.
Leading filmmakers and climate experts are joining forces to launch a new initiative that will use the power of the short film to raise awareness of climate change.
1 Minute To Save The World is an international short film competition and online film festival focusing on the environment. The competition is open to anyone who wants to have their say on climate change. All films will be shown on the competition website www.1minutetosavetheworld.com ensuring that anyone anywhere in the world who has internet access can ‘attend’ the festival for free with near to zero carbon emissions.
The winning films will be shown at the forthcoming Copenhagen Climate Conference and will be used as a viral campaign distributed by worldwide Partners to raise international awareness and challenge public perception of climate change. There will also be a prize of £1000 to the overall winner.
Amongst the competition’s impressive line up of judges and patrons are filmmakers and environmental campaigners including award-winning director and climate change activist Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, Bandit Queen), Bruce Parry (presenter of Tribe), Working Title Films (Love Actually, Atonement), and Franny Armstrong (Director of Age of Stupid). The competition's media partner is the Guardian. Other partners include UNICEF's Unite for Climate, and leading NGOs - Greenpeace, nef (new economics foundation), Stop Climate Chaos, and the World Development Movement.
"I've jumped in front of whaling ships and gone on demos, but I realised that instead of being in a crowd of 100,000, film was the most powerful thing I could do,' said Franny Armstrong, director of Age of Stupid.
I Minute to Save the World is free to enter and all-inclusive. It’s open to amateur and professional filmmakers. There will also be a youth category and a category for entries shot on a mobile phone.
“Multinationals and their advertising agencies have long known the power a short film can have. We’ve decided to harness the medium to raise public awareness and pressure governments into meaningful action. It’ll be a truly international competition and festival. Anyone, anywhere in the world who has access to the internet can take part, either by making a short film or by voting for their favourite entry,” said festival producer Jessica Dunlop.
1 Minute to Save the World is teaming up with partners all over the world to encourage and facilitate entries from those who will be most affected by climate change.
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