The Endangered Generation? (Premiere Fund)

Combining modern science with ancient First Nations knowledge, The Endangered Generation? seeks new ways of thinking about the many crises facing our planet.

Our world is at a crossroads of myriad crises, but all too often the solutions to the problems we face – especially vis-a-vis climate change – are put in the ‘too hard’ basket. But, as director Celeste Geer discovers, it doesn’t have to be this way. Following Then the Wind Changed, her Walkley Award–winning film about rebuilding after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, she sought answers to the question of why, after decades of warnings, we continue to shirk the necessary measures that will prevent all-out climate catastrophe.

Supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund, The Endangered Generation? aims to remove roadblocks to change by presenting new and hopeful angles on the tasks required. In the lead-up to COP26, Geer met with scientists, First Nations leaders and communities from around the globe who, through their research and experiences, are showing how collaboration, imagination and creativity – in particular, Indigenous knowledge systems – will likely be the most effective tools for surviving the world we now find ourselves in. A moving, and at times surprisingly joyous, exploration of who we are and how we relate to the environment, the film reveals not just a potential salvation for humanity but a salve for the anxieties and uncertainties of modern life.