If you liked the documentary I Am Greta or for that matter Toronto playwright Jordan Tannahill’s
Dusseldorf and
Toronto stage show Is My Microphone on? (a play in the form of a protest song by a dozen German and Canadian teens), make sure to watch Dear Future Children, in cinemas now.
The celebrated German-UK-Austrian documentary explores how three young women, in Hong Kong, Chile and Uganda, cope with the staggering personal impact of their political activism. A film about the next generation, made by the next generation.
We watch as Rayen protests for social justice in Chile, Pepper fights for democracy in Hong Kong and Hilda battles the devastating consequences of climate change in Uganda. Facing almost impossible odds, the film asks why and how these three young women keep fighting.
Filmmaker Franz Böhm (22) is originally from Stuttgart, Germany. At 16, after working his way up to first Assistant Director, he made his first solo film. Franz' next project found him living with youth experiencing homelessness. The resulting documentary, "Christmas Wishes," was selected as the opening film for the German Youth Film Awards. Böhm then directed the short drama "Good Luck," which premiered at the British Independent Film Festival. Following his work for the National Film & Television School and doc production company 1185 Films, he is currently developing new projects in London. Dear Future Children is his debut feature film.
Before taking the World Showcase audience award at the Hot Docs Festival earlier this year, the film had already won the audience award at its Max Ophüls Festival world premiere and continues to fascinate and move international audiences. What makes this film so captivating and thought-provoking is the radically personal (young, female-focused) lens as well as the globally connected perspective that takes us onto the barricades and behind the scenes of organizing resistance: This affects all of us, wherever we are, whatever moves us to protest or try to make change on issues of survival. Director Böhm comments:
"Global protests are on the rise. Historic demonstrations in Chile, school children striking all over the world. Who are the young leaders and activists behind this seismic political shift? Dear Future Children is a film about the new generation bringing attention to topics which have been under-reported for too long. This project presented us with a unique opportunity to examine activism through a modern, and distinctly young, lens. We worked hard to establish a healthy relationship with all those whose spaces we were entering. For them, we aren't a foreign media organization coming in and dramatizing their stories. To our subjects we are comrades; we are the same age, we often share similar feelings, we laugh about the same jokes and deal with our anxieties about the world in similar ways, but most importantly, their problems are our problems.”
The creative team recognizes that this is a fine balance for filmmakers: The film was put through a rigorous fact-checking process with independent experts in order to represent the scale of the depicted protest movements as accurately as possible, and, Böhm adds, “while the entire team is heavily invested in this project, we have done our best to ensure that the lens through which this film has been created is a dispassionate one."
How do you safeguard your team’s safety in reporting from dangerous and volatile political frontlines? "We collaborated heavily with state organizations (both at home and abroad), local filmmakers, and respected journalists to ensure the safety of our crew while filming in Hong Kong and Chile. This detailed preparation allowed us to bear witness to the brutal realities that activists in these countries experience every day. Our well-established close relationship with our subjects allowed us to capture the human cost of these huge moments in history -- like the recent pro-Beijing security law."
Dear Future Children captures the conflicting energy, anger and ingenuity of the young activists who feel ignored and demonstrates the impact their actions have around the world. "Our goal was to present these activists and movements as they are and with all the successes and failures that come with being a young person in the modern world." One of the most gripping and memorable films (never mind astoundingly intricate and intense directorial debuts) I have seen this year, I am happy to see it again.
In Canadian cinemas now, including Toronto's Fox Theatre. Email us by noon EST Monday, Oct 18, for your chance to win a pair of tickets for the Fox' run of engagement. (We will need your first and last name and email address to share with the Fox. Only the winners will be notified.)
Dear Future Children also plays Ottawa's Bytowne Theatre, Kingston's The Screening Room, and Kitchener's Apollo Cinema.
Tickets here.
by
Jutta Brendemühl
