Transitions Film Festival 2022 Using The Power Of Film For Positive Future Change – scenestr

Since 2012, Transitions Film Festival has showcased short, feature and VR documentaries addressing our world, and those helping to shape it and make it better through social, environmental and technological innovations. One of the ongoing missions of Transitions and its curated selection of films is to help us envision a better world, and think about what we can do to make that vision come true and this year, across its more than 20 virtual sessions available nationwide (and a small selection of Melbourne screenings), the festival continues that.

There are examples of the power of activism, food, technology and nature across the programme, and an emphasis on the greatest threats facing humanity. There's an intimate portrait of an environmental activist. . . A fictional narrative legal drama. . . An illumination of humans' relationship with water. . . And a warning about economic collapse with rising temperatures. That's just some of the 2022 Transitions offering.

Let's fight for the future we want.

Festival Director Daniel Simons gives us more information about the 2022 event.

Tell us a bit about the 2022 Transitions Film Festival. The Transitions Film Festival is a social and environmental impact festival that uses the power of film to highlight the biggest and most urgent issues of our time. We focus on showcasing solutions to society's greatest challenges, as well as the mind-blowing technological innovations that have the potential to change life as we know it. This years festival covers our usual themes of climate change, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, environmental activism, social enterprise, regenerative agriculture and the power of music to change the world. Due to COVID, we are mostly online, with all films available nationally, but were also hosting a handful of free screenings in Melbourne, including one at The Capitol Theatre on 20 February.

As Festival Director, what is it that you set out to achieve every year you present it? Festivals like ours can play a vital role in a number of ways. We curate a small selection of films from a huge number of entries, so the audience knows that the films we select deserve their attention. We focus on films that are about the most important issues of our time and we highlight content that is on the cutting-edge of science, innovation and social change. We also aim for the festival to create massive changes in peoples lives and to bring them into the environmental and changemaker eco-systems of Australia. Importantly, the festivals focus on solutions and the heroes creating change around the world gives people hope and a feeling of empowerment at a time when other news media is filled with narratives of doom and hopelessness. With so much entertainment out there, people can be hesitant to watch important documentaries like the ones we feature as part of our programme. Having the films featured in a festival is often an impetus for time-poor and overwhelmed people to watch films that they would not otherwise choose to watch. Then, like a cold shower, they dont want to get in at first, they come out feeling invigorated, alive and ready to take on the world.

And why do you think a festival like Transitions is important to witness? If you look at the recent reaction to Dont Look Up which was the second highest debut Netflix movie of all time getting 360 million hours of viewing in its first 28 days you know people are hungry for change. The problem with 'Dont Look Up' and other Hollywood films that deal with climate change and other social and environmental issues, is that they can be cynical and demoralising. Festivals like ours give hope and show the amazing range of solutions we have at our disposal and ready to deploy now. If enough people know about these ideas and are hungry enough to create change, we can solve all of our greatest problems within decades. And, as Obama said we are the first generation to feel the effects of climate change and the last who can do anything about it, so why wouldn't you want to spend all of your mental time and energy making sure that there is a future for the human race, and the rest of the inhabitants of the planet. But it's not just a festival about climate change, it's everything change.

How do you hope audiences respond to this years programme? Our festival logline is inspiration, empowerment, impact. So we hope that our audiences come away from the festival inspired, empowered and ready to create impact in the world. In our exit surveys we ask our audience what influence the festival had on their lives. The best answers are always from those who respond that, as a result of the festival, they decided to change their course of study or their career. Its not about people watching a 90-minute movie and starting to use a KeepCup, it's about people changing who they are and dedicating their entire lives to what is most important. We dont just want people to be entertained, we want them to connect to the changemaker communities of the world and help rewrite the future, while we still have time.

Transitions Film Festival takes place online (with some in-person Melbourne events) from 18 February-13 March.

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Transitions Film Festival 2022 Using The Power Of Film For Positive Future Change - scenestr