In true Greenpeace style, last night’s Age of Stupid premier (co-hosted by ourselves and Oxfam) was a little seat of the pants. Less than an hour from show time, the green carpet hadn’t been rolled out, the carrots and celery remained unchopped and untransported to venue, the giant 40% by 2020 banner was still being hung, and I was at my desk trying to organise fairy lights while simultaneously getting my hair curled and wrangling media.
Keisha Castle-Hughes travels in style on the green carpet
As Kiwi co-producer Lizzie Gillett put it during a live cross to the Sydney premier later in the evening: “Just two hours ago, it was all looking very dodgy!!”
But then the wand of good will and good luck was waved and it all came together. None of those who graced the green carpet would have been any wiser and the evening turned out to be a huge success. The feijoya wine flowed, the camera bulbs flashed and out of rickshaws tumbled familiar faces: Barbara Kendall, Oliver Driver, Lucy Lawless, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Jim Salinger, Bob Harvey, Jennifer Ward-Lealand; they turned out in their masses to see if it were true: are we really stupid?
The film stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking back at 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? THE TELEGRAPH in the UK described the film as: “Bold, supremely provocative and hugely important…a cry from the heart as much as a roar for necessary change”. The LA TIMES said “Think ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ but with a personality”.
The film takes no prisoners. Its message is crystal clear – we either act fast and strong on climate change, or we’re f*cked. We know enough, we’ve been privy to enough warnings and signs and science, now let’s get on with averting our own demise.
Noelle McCarthy and the film's co-producer Lizzie Gillett
The UK premier, which was broadcast via satellite to 65 other locations, won a Guinness Book of Records as the Biggest Simultaneous Film Premier in History. I don’t think last night set any records, but that’s not to say the live cross to Sydney wasn’t a feat! Also impressive was fact the tent was solar powered.
Following the screening of the film and the live cross, there was a Q and A between broadcaster Noelle McCarthy and co-producer Lizzie. Lizzie’s story is extraordinary. She’s rocketed from sports reporting for provincial television in Dunedin - Channel 9 - to world wide fame. See more of her story on last night’s Close Up.
Tammy Davis and MC Oliver Driver
Thanks to MC Oliver Driver (such biting wit!) and Noelle. Thanks to all those who helped pull it together. And thanks most to Lizzie and Age of Stupid director Franny Armstrong, who’ve brought the urgency and imperative of climate action to centre stage.