An Inconvenient Youth
**Kids Fighting For Their Future**
An Inconvenient Youth tells the story of 6 teenage environmentalists, united in their global fight to save their future, their planet.
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This documentary film opens when teenage filmmaker, Slater Jewell-Kemker meets 115 other young activists at the Youth Environmental G8 Summit in Japan, May of 2008. They work together to spell out a Youth Eco-Message to present to their G8 Environmental Ministers. |
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Slater is inspired to meet like-minded people her age from around the world, but the event itself seems to be used by the G-8 countries as a glorified photo-op. For the kids, that won’t cut it. It's time to take matters into their own hands. They set their sights on the Copenhagen 2009 Environmental Summit where the Kyoto Protocol will be replaced - this time they’ll tell the G-8 what they really think.
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Slater, camera in hand, follows her fellow activists back to their countries to explore the deepening environmental challenges they face and to build what amounts to a global all-star team of young environmentalists.
There's Abrar in Bangladesh who fears that by the time he reaches middle age his country will be under water… the catastrophic flooding is a direct result of climate change.
Ando and Lusi in Indonesia fight to save the lungs of their country – the forests threatened by mass cutting and burning. |
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In Mongolia, Erkhet shows us the choking pollution from gold miners' illegal use of chemicals. His country’s media doesn’t usually cover the environment, let alone when the story comes from a 12 year old.
Schalk, in South Africa is trying to make the environment a priority for a people that have been ravaged by race division and AIDS.
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These eco-warriors join together to plead their case showing stunning visuals of a planet whose livability currently balances on the edge of a razor. They call out to their generation to join them. It's not too late… but will be if nothing changes.
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To be successful on the road to Copenhagen, they will have to use all of their imagination, passion, humor, style, music, anger and open heartedness to connect with the media and politicians, which will give this film an edgy yet innocent quality not seen in the apocalyptic environmental documentaries of recent years.
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In December 2009, the Inconvenient Youths will assemble again to speak to the Governments of the world. The ruling generation’s political machines will come out spinning, but this time the kids will be ready for them. This time their voices will be heard.
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“An Inconvenient Youth” Teaser Trailer:
http://pistolerapost.com/slater/aninconvenientyouth_dec08-H.264.mov
Slater Jewell-Kemker - Director's Vision
I wanted to create this documentary, because the self-destruction has to stop. We have been benefiting from the destruction of our planet for so long, that it seems like nothing to pillage our landscapes for money, it's just business. But it's not just business anymore. It's our future. I want to make a film that challenges the viewers' attitudes toward the environment without judging them - a film that entertains and educates at the same time. The kids in this film show that through leadership, friendship, empathy for others and working together, we can achieve a sustainable future that we will be proud to leave to our children. I want the film to show that there IS hope and that laughter is a part of that.
Extensive use of hand-held cameras will give it a raw, intimate feel. I'd like to establish a motif of a long shot where the kids are in the middle of the frame, with their feet touching the bottom of the frame and they're surrounded by the environment of their home country. I'd like a minimal musical score featuring music from the kids' home countries such as djembe in Kenya or throat singing in Mongolia.
The pace of the film should be quick and fast paced, something that keeps the audience interested even though the very foundation of their capitalist society is being questioned.
This film is a documentary showing the struggles that kids of our generation face in trying to save what’s left of their future. This film will give us a Voice. By going to the countries of kids who are on the front lines of this war for profit over sustainability, we will see and experience exactly what’s at stake for our children if we continue business as usual.
Slater Jewell-Kemker - Bio
Slater was born in Los Angeles, California in 1992 and grew up with a passion for the environment. She cut her teeth reporting and making short films for The My Hero Project. (www.myhero.com) In 2005, Slater met her Environmental Hero, Jean-Michel Cousteau at his family camp on Catalina Island and the short film from that experience made it into the world-renowned Cannes Film Festival in May of 2007.
In March of 2007 she received an Earth Trustee Award at the United Nations in New York City for her environmental activism in filmmaking. PAINTING PEACE and PEACE BEGINS, her companion short films spreading the message of peace through art, were both finalists at the Toronto International Film Festival's kids division, Sprocket's in 2006 and 2007 respectively. PEACE BEGINS also won the My Hero Film Festival's High School category and opened for the Oscar Nominated Documentary, WAR DANCE at the Traveling World Community Film Festival in Canada.
In May of 2008, Slater represented Canada at the Youth Environmental G8 Summit in Kobe, Japan. Shortly thereafter, Slater and her mother Wendy began work on their documentary, An Inconvenient Youth. In this film Slater travels to the home countries of fellow Environmental G8 Youth Summit delegates to document their most pressing environmental problems along with the solutions they propose. Her environmental short, DON’T GIVE IT ALL AWAY won First Place in the Music Video at the My Hero Film Festival, November 22nd in Los Angeles.
"Don't Give It All Away"
http://www.myhero.com/myhero/go/filmfestival/viewfilm.asp?film=youth%20activism&res=high
Check out Peace Begins at:
http://www.myhero.com/myhero/go/filmfestival/viewfilm.asp?film=conflict%20resolution&res=high
Slater's journey so far:
http://myhero.com/myhero/go/filmfestival/viewfilm.asp?film=slaterspecial&res=low
An Inconvenient Youth – The KIDS
Abrar Anwar - Bangladesh - 16
Hi. My name is Abrar, my friends call me Kai and I'm from Bangladesh. I'm sure you've heard of it! It's a small country on the gulf of the Bay of Bengal, bordered by India and Burma. I have always been interested in the environment… ever since I was little and used to watch the TV show "Captain Planet" on Cartoon Network. They always used to say that the power to save the world was ours, if we saw a way.
Ando Amadino - Indonesia - 15
I really like talking about the environment because presently we have big environmental problems in Indonesia. One of the problems is deforestation. We know that forests are the lungs of the world but they have been damaged. Actually my county is a country which has a big forest, but nowadays people cut and burn the forests for profit. We need to act quickly to save these forests for our future.
Lusi Utami - Indonesia - 15
The Environment is something very necessary in our lives but we have been spoiling it and now we experience global warming. This condition is caused by several factors such as air, water and land pollution, as well as too much trash. We need to do something about this so we can enjoy a beautiful life.
Erkhet Vanchinkhuu - Mongolia - 11
I am 11 year old boy from Ulaanbaatar, the biggest city in Mongolia where I study at the King's Kid School. We have great resources in mining, agriculture and tourism but many areas have a great concern of an environmental conservation. The gold miners sometimes illegally use dangerous chemicals like cyanides and mercury. As a result the biodiversity including forests, wild animals and vegetation is being destroyed. Also there is a lot of human illness to do with breathing and this uncontrolled situation gets no attention as there is no media to report it.
Schalk Burger - South Africa - 14
In daily life my contribution and focus is to help sustain the environment by reducing, reusing, recycling and raising public awareness in local environmental issues. Attending the youth summit in Japan gave me the opportunity to voice some of South Africa's environmental concerns like water pollution and our current energy crisis. By being part of An Inconvenient Youth I hope to communicate workable solutions with my global peers and to affect international regulatory change.
An Inconvenient Youth - Other Possible KIDS
Japan - Kids to be chosen in consultation with the organizers of the Youth Environmental G8 Summit.
Shrunalie Ranade - India - 14
Last year I was involved with environmental projects involving global warming. I collected information about controlling pollution by using specific trees. These trees, like Glyricidia and Eucalyptus, immobilize, volatilize and metabolize the pollutants. In India we face the explosion of overpopulation and pollution. It is not impossible to tackle these problems. GO GREEN. Cover Mother Earth with a GREEN BLANKET… while we still can.
Larissa Gatkowsky - Germany - 15
My group at school fights against bio fuels and I think it's important to talk about this topic because bio fuels destroy the environment and cause hunger in the world. Without respecting the environment, there is no immaculate nature and so there is no good life for us in the world. I hope that even we young people are able to change things, to save the earth for our children and grandchildren.
Mishel Sikder - Bangladesh - 14
Hello everyone, I am Mishel Sikder and I study in the 7th standard in European Standard School in Bangladesh. Environmental issues are one of the most important issues for a country. Bangladesh faces a lot of environmental problems due to global warming and we all are trying our best to solve these.
Julien Koperecz - France - 14
I'm really fond of reading or drawing and when I finish my studies I want to be an architect: this profession is getting more and more interesting in that it evolves with our changing environment. Today, producing energy with solar panels to heat water or produce electricity can be done; in fact, cleaner energy is a major environmental concern in our country. I always do my best to reduce my ecological footprint: I sort all my waste and strive to use less energy and save water, etc.
Kimia Safarihamid - Iran - 14
I am a high school student in Tehran. I feel there are many solutions to global warming and the bad things happening to our environment. For example solar tools, use of public transportation and informing people about how to live in a greener way. We must all work together after the summit in Japan to create a healthy living environment for our local community, society, country and the world so that man and nature can have sustainable development.
Brian Mulama - Kenya - 15
I am a high school student in Kenya. Recently I became an orphan when my mother died last December. One of the most important things happening in my country is flooding. There are many things we can do to stop flooding but global warming is surely a cause of the new and stronger floods. We must work with our elders and the rest of the youth from the summit in Japan to help our planet survive.
Wendy Jewell
Producer/Journalist Bio
Wendy Jewell is a Producer, Writer, Actor whose credits range from the Parisian stage to award-winning theatrical productions in Los Angeles and Prime Time Television. She has produced many environmental and social justice short films in association with the My Hero Project, including Cannes Festival selection, "Slater meets her Hero, Jean-Michel Cousteau." She has over ten years of experience working with kids from all over the world. As one of the leading forces behind the internationally celebrated "Learning Circles," a project that brings classrooms together online from all over the globe in integrated learning projects and with iearn.org at conferences in Canada, Slovakia, Holland, USA and Japan, Wendy has built a vast network of young activists worldwide.
As a journalist, Wendy has interviewed kids like Canada's Ryan Hreljac, Africa's William Kamkwamba and founder of YES, (Youth for Environmental Sanity) Ocean Robbins. Other interviews include UNICEF first responder Michael Bociurkiw, environmentalist Robert Kennedy JR. and the women of RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan.
She produced the feature film Zombie Dearest, winner of the Audience Favorite award at the 2008 First Time Film Festival in Los Angeles and is currently in development with the feature, The Vampire's Wife for Scream Clock Productions where she is a partner. Wendy is partnered with the UN and Creative Visions in developing the kids' television series, "Rock Your World" and is hard at work developing "An Inconvenient Youth," after shooting initial footage in Japan at the Youth Environmental G8 Summit in May.
Wendy Jewell - Article on global youth work
http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=WendyJewell_07
Daniel Bekerman
Producer/Line Producer Bio
Daniel Bekerman has been working in film and television in Canada for 16 years. He began as a teenager in the art department on David Cronenberg’s “M. Butterfly” and on Atom Egoyan’s “Calendar”. Since then he has produced over 100 short format productions including award winning commercials, music videos and short films (credits include MTV promos, Wowwee toy commercials, videos for Nelly Furtado, Metric and Good Charlotte). He produced the feature film “You Are Here” starring Tracy Wright which is in post production. Daniel has line produced or production managed six feature films, including “Toronto Stories” (TIFF 2008), Hank and Mike, Zombie Dearest and currently “Defendor” starring Woody Harrelson.
Daniel’s interest in environmental issues began at a very young age when his grandfather Robert Turnbull conducted some of the first tests into the effects of acid rain on the Muskoka lakes. His Grandfather’s science based understanding of the impact people can have on their environment left a lasting impression. Working for years in the reforestation industry, Daniel quickly realized what most Canadians might be surprised to find out, that our great nation of forests has been almost completely logged several times over, and that with each new replanted generation biodiversity and the health of the ecosystem is diminished.
Combining his skills and experience at managing budgets and production concerns with his passion for changing the way we view our relationship with our planet is a dream of Daniel’s. Hearing the perspectives of today’s young people on this fragile point in our global history through work on “An Inconvenient Youth” is making it clear that now is the time to make those kinds of dreams reality.
Executive Producer/Producer - Tom Powers
Tom Powers is the President and Executive Producer of Toronto based Open Door Co., a company specializing in the production, distribution and acquisition of “Content That Matters” on a global scale. He has over 15 years of high-level experience as a senior entertainment executive and lawyer. A Gemini Award nominee, Tom has produced 7 prime time TV series and 5 feature documentaries in the last 7 years. His films and series have been acquired or commissioned by HBO, Sundance Channel, NHK, SBS, CTV, Discovery Network, Super Channel, The Documentary Channel and Canwest Global, among others. Tom holds an Honors BA and an LL.B from Queen’s University.
Selected Credits:
In Production
2008 – Black Nation – Executive Producer feature theatrical documentary with Swedish film Institute and SVT - In post production
2008 – Independent America – Rising From Ruins – executive producer/Producer feature documentary for Super Channel - in post production
2007 – Executive Producer/Producer, Cracked Not Broken, HBO Addiction Project, Oprah Winfrey Show, Super Channel
2006 – Executive Producer/Producer, Independent America, feature documentary, Sundance Channel, NHK, Super Channel, SBS
2005 - Executive Producer, The Office Temps 13x1 hour prime time comedy/reality series for Global Television; negotiated and sold format to Fox Studios LA and Fox Worldwide
2004 – Co-executive Producer, The Call, 13x1 hour documentary series for Life Network, nominated for a Gemini
2000-2003 –Executive Producer of Popstars, 3 season’s of prime time 13x1 hour series for Global, nominated for a Gemini