Direct from the Toronto Film Festival, Rob Stewart follows his landmark documentary Sharkwater with Revolution, which opens at the Vernon Towne Cinema Friday.
While Stewart’s earlier film dealt with the decimation of the world’s shark population. Revolution is an impassioned and angry, yet hopeful call to arms against the destruction of the planet’s marine life, and the resulting threat to the human race.
In the film, Stewart shows how 80 per cent of life on Earth is in the ocean and how the habitats around coral reefs are quickly disappearing.
Travelling the globe to monitor the efforts taken — and not taken — to stop the damage (exploring ocean depths to observe this first-hand), Stewart examines the destruction of the planet’s natural heritage.
His outrage over how poorly humans treat the planet is clear. Attending another failed environmental conference, with little or no resulting action, he dismisses the proceedings as a farce, castigating governments whose token nods to environmental sustainability are wholly disingenuous.
An award-winning biologist, photographer, conservationist and filmmaker, born and raised in Toronto, Stewart directs a lot of his anger towards the current Canadian government, which withdrew from the Kyoto Accord and which, he argues, has broken the law with the Albertan tar sands project.
Yet despite government inaction and the terrifying data on marine decline, Revolution is infused with wonder and hope.
While seasoned activists have little to offer by way of answers, Stewart sees an opportunity in the youth who plead with leaders to do something about climate change and the dangers facing the planet.
The film opens at the Towne Cinema with a special screening on Friday at 7 p.m. Terry Dyck from SENS (Sustainable Environment Network Society) of Vernon will speak at the screening.
Admission for the Friday screening is $10/adult, with $2.75 of the ticket price being donated to SENS.
