FWD:labs

Take The 2 Hours


11th-hour-poster.jpgIt’s only playing at four movie theaters right now, so you might need to take your bus, subway or bicycle a little further than usual. Leonardo DiCaprio’s art-house film The 11th Hour, which premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival in May, is causing quite the storm.

Passion-centric

On the back page of today’s Los Angeles Times’ Calendar section, staff writer Rose Apodaca focused on how the film’s collective nature parallels the need for “a collective shift of individual determination to save the planet.” As is often the case with passion-centric projects, many of the filmmakers donated their time: Jean-Pascal Beintus composed the music and Andrew Roland’s camera crew shot the documentary for free. Leonardo DiCaprio, who co-wrote with directing sisters Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Petersen, was determined to get private financing in order to be sure to get his hands dirty on every subject:

“We wanted to let leaders on the forefront of these issues speak openly and freely, without having to defend something that’s actually happening, something they’ve spent their lives’ work studying.”

DiCaprio, the Blood Diamond-starring, Prius-driving and Tree Media Group-partner, is no stranger to social relevance. See the cover story in Vanity Fair magazine to get up to speed on his actions.

Coverage

  • The New York Times: “It may not change your life, but it may inspire you to recycle that old slogan-button your folks pinned on their dashikis back in the day: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
  • Variety: “11th Hour presents the viewer with reams of depressing data, loads of hand-wringing about the woeful state of humanity and, finally, some altogether fascinating ideas about how to go about solving the climate crisis.”
  • 81% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes‘ critic aggregate, as of 11am on August 18, 2007

Non-New Yorkers and Angelenos: the wider release is August 24, 2007.

Convergence

Grassroots Reaction

11th-hour-obey-poster.jpg

  • Even with echoes of An Inconvenient Truth — where the message is susceptible to fatigue from the globally-apathetic moviewatcher on a Superbad weekend — the repetition is part of the message. “This case needs to be stated again and again until humans are mobilized to action, for nothing else will be sufficient to ensure our collective survival.” Environment-savvy entrepreneurial consultant Jonathan Cloud continues his thorough, informed and passionate analysis of the film and the problem at large.
  • Promotional print from Obey Giant — street artist Shepard Fairey — who notes, “Skip the next Rob Sneider movie and to see the 11th Hour and you’ll be both avoiding pollution and educating yourself about it. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for MY kid! Thanks.” (Fans and critics responded, as it sold out quickly.)
  • The screensaver should be a t-shirt,” notes the Ecorazzi blog’s post by Michael d’Estries, co-founder and editor of “the latest in green gossip.”

Author

Aaron Proctor
Founder, FWD:labs
Director of Photography site
Contact



Commentary


[IMG]Take The 2 Hours/ August 18, 2007 It’s only playing at four movie theaters right now, so you might need to take your bus, subway or bicycle a little further than usual. Leonardo DiCaprio’s art-house film The 11th Hour

cinematog / rapher #

around the country. I doubt if there were 30 people in the audience, though admittedly this was the late afternoon showing, and no doubt more showed up in the evening. But if this is being treated as an “art-house film� (as suggested by theFWD:Labs Collaborative) it will never get the audience it needs or deserves. We need to create a movement to get people to see this film, because it’s the next step in awakening people to the need for global action, and beginning to ask more meaningful questions about

The Sustainable Economy » Welcome #

Read original article.

Movie Rocker Report #

[…] My concern with the movie is that even though it sees itself as (and in many ways is) a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth, it will not get seen widely enough to have the kind of impact that Al Gore had. From New Jersey, we had to drive in to Manhattan to see it – albeit sporting our new “Drive 55″ bumper sticker – and it seems to be playing in no more than a dozen theaters around the country. I doubt if there were 30 people in the audience, though admittedly this was the late afternoon showing, and no doubt more showed up in the evening. But if this is being treated as an “art-house film” (as suggested by the FWD:Labs Collaborative)  it will never get the audience it needs or deserves. We need to create a movement to get people to see this film, because it’s the next step in awakening people to the need for global action, and beginning to ask more meaningful questions about when, how, and to what extent we need to act in order to survive. […]

Jonathan Cloud :: Life, Examined » Blog Archive » The 11th Hour; or is already it much later than that? #

Mr. Cloud, thanks for your in-addendum reference today to this supportive post on The 11th Hour here, at the FWD:labs collective blog. After finding and linking your “thorough, informed and passionate” review today, I’m sorry that you felt obliged to pick out the quote “art-house film,” suggesting that I (not the “Collaborative” [sic]) summed up “Hour” here in a sideline niche. I saw where and how often the film is playing today in Los Angeles and made a choice; in retrospect, I could have used “independent documentary” and everything else would stay the same.

My background, which is in art film cinematography, surely influences my use of the term differently than yours and maybe many others. But I consider it synonymous with the examples provided above: passion-centric, highly-acclaimed, uniquely-marketed and reactively inspiring.

This is my own take of the film’s web and design influences and this “treatment” is evidently positive and unquestionably inspiring. Next time, please consider going after the real critics, spending more than a couple minutes on this site to rush to a conclusion. Thanks!

proctor #

Why do people think “art house” means “no audience”? I usually treat that being meant as “good movie.” However, my specialty isn’t in motion picture marketing — so maybe I’m wrong!

eric s #

awesome. i ma.gnolia’d this. ;) you rule.

willo #

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