Image Courtesy: Rousslan Dion, Bonne Pioche Cinéma - 2021
The Cannes International Film Festival has added seven feature films and documentaries to its 2021 line-up that address environmental concerns. These include;
1) La Croisade (The Crusade), directed by Louis Garrel
The movie has actors like French actor and filmmaker Louis Garrel, who is also the director of the movie, along with actors Laetitia Casta and Joseph Engel. Co-written by the late legendary screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, who unfortunately died last year, the festival describes the movie as a “fiction” in which the children folk take the reins in order to protect the planet, and also as a tale of anticipation, equally urgent, funny and charming.
2) Marcher sur l’eau (Above Water), directed by Aïssa Maïga
Filmed in a village in Niger, the movie follows the tale of a little girl who must travel several kilometers for water every day and is waiting for a water well to be built. The film explores the question of whether access to water co-relates to access to education for young girls in the Sub-Saharan African countries.
3) Invisible Demons, directed by Rahul Jain
From India, the director of the Sundance-winning documentary “Machines” (2016), Rahul Jain, comes back with his new movie titled Invisible Demons, a shocking documentary which explores the pollution in the ecological hell that has become of the capital city New Delhi, and the “invisible demons” that are the fine particles of harmful waste that frequent Delhi regions.
4) Animal, directed by Cyril Dion
After the tremendous success of the César-award-winning movie “Demain” (Tomorrow, 2015), Cyril Dion is back with a new movie titled Animal which sheds light on extinction by accompanying two concerned and worried teenagers asking very smart questions to better understand the wreaking of biodiversity and how we can search for concrete solutions.
5) I Am So Sorry, directed by Zhao Liang
12 years after the movie Petition, which was presented at a special screening at Cannes director Zhao Liang returns with the movie I Am So Sorry, which is a challenging documentary that explores the dangers of nuclear energy that travels from Chernobyl towards the city of Fukushima.
6) La Panthère des neiges, directed by Marie Amiguet
The movie, going well beyond the conventions of the expedition film genre, captures the anticipation, the silence, the passing of the days, and the strength of nature, and an obvious theme emerges amidst all this — the natural beauty of the world.
7) Bigger Than Us, directed by Flore Vasseur
Documentary filmmaker Flore Vasseur follows the story of Melati, a young Indonesian girl who is fighting against pollution in her country and is on a journey that will take her far away from home. The movie introduces the world to young activists fighting for climate, social justice, and fundamental rights.