Franny Armstrong
Franny Armstrong

Age of Stupid

2009 · 89 mins · 12A (UK)

"Why didn't we save ourselves when we had the chance?"

61,949,313 viewers worldwide

Synopsis

The Age of Stupid stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite (In The Name of the Father, The Usual Suspects, Brassed Off) as a man living in the devastated future world of 2055, looking back at old footage from our time and asking: why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?

Reviews

"Bold, supremely provocative and hugely important"

The Telegraph

"A deeply inconvenient kick up the backside"

News of the World

"So tightly constructed and dynamic you leave the cinema energised rather than terrified"

ABC Australia

"Think An Inconvenient Truth, but with a personality"

LA Times

"The stakes are very, very high. They're through the roof. So when I looked at the subject and what the film is trying to do, there was no option really, I had to do it."

Pete Postlethwaite, Press notes

"To pack that much information into a film that is exciting, moving, keeps you engaged all the way through is phenomenal. It's an extraordinary achievement."

Pete Postlethwaite, Press notes

"The opening sequence is phenomenal. It's Spielberg, eat your heart out."

Pete Postlethwaite, Press notes

"Age of Stupid is the most ambitious film I've been involved with to date."

John Battsek, Executive producer statement

Awards

  • Jury Special Mention — Middle East International Film Festival 2009
  • Green Award — Grierson Awards 2008
  • Best Feature — HIFF 2006
  • Best Investigation of Environmental Issues — Sun Child Festival 2009
  • Achievement of the Year — ITV Women in Film and TV 2009

Director's Notes

"Either we seriously tackle climate change or we wipe out most life on Earth. So it's not a tricky decision, as a filmmaker, to decide which subject to work on. I find it hard to understand how anyone who grasps the problem can work on anything else."

The original plan, back in 2002, was to steal the structure of Soderbergh's Traffic: six human stories on all sides of a complex international issue. His was fiction and drugs; ours was documentary and oil and climate change. That's exactly what we did for the first two years. But when I sat back and watched it, I just didn't think it was good enough. So we decided to introduce the fictional element — set in the future — to amplify and explain the significance of our six human stories set in the present day.

Each of the characters were a thousand times more interesting and nuanced than I could ever have imagined. Which reinforced my belief in both documentaries and humans.

"There's nothing like continual challenges, towards a worthwhile goal, surrounded by inspiring people, to really feel alive."

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