Climate change and its impact on sea and land is the theme of this year’s “Night of Ideas” festival hosted by the French embassy.
The “Green Night of Ideas” lasts the month of February, with films available to view for free online with subtitles.
Two films by French director and photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand focus on climate justice, and what he views as a “disconnect” from landscape and seascape over the past half-century.
Bertrand’s documentary “Home” from 2009 portrays “the beautiful diversity of our ecosystem, how humans have been cohabitating with Earth are also threatening this fragile balance ”, according to French Honorary Consul for Connacht Catherine Gagneux.
“Through the sequence of the narration, facts and mesmerising aerial footage, it invites each and everyone of us to see how everything is interlinked and to ‘have the courage of the truth and look at each other with open eyes’,” she says.
Bertrand’s more recent film, “Legacy” is a “powerful cry from the heart”, Gagneux says.
“ He shares a sensitive and radical vision of our world, which he has seen deteriorate over the course of a generation, and reveals a suffering planet, and a confused humanity unable to take seriously the threat weighing on it and on all living things,” she says.
“ It is an emergency: everyone can and must take strong action for the planet’s future for our children,” Gagneux says.
The Green Night of Ideas 2021, a series of digital screenings followed by debates on climate change, runs through this month – with “Legacy” available to view for free until February 18th, and “Home” until February 28th.
All events are presented by the French Embassy in Ireland in association with the Alliance Française Network, Institut Français and Irish cultural partners.
To watch Bertrand’s films, click here and here
The full programme is here
