THE MAGNITUDE OF ALL THINGS

Jennifer Abbott | 2020 | Canada | 86 min | OV (with English subtitles)

The Magnitude of All Things explores the concept of climate grief – grief over the loss of the animals, landscapes and ecosystems that are being destroyed by advancing climate change – by connecting Abbott’s emotional response to her sister Saille’s death from cancer with her emotional responses to climate change. Stories from the frontlines of climate change merge with memories of the filmmaker’s childhood on Ontario’s Georgian Bay. What do these stories have in common? The answer, surprisingly, is everything.

This cinematic journey takes us around the world to witness a planet in crisis: from the catastrophic fires in Australia and the dying Great Barrier Reef to the island nation of Kiribati being submerged by rising sea levels. Confronting the brutal reality of climate change requires more than just words and gestures. When hope is lost, the real emotional labour of dealing with climate change begins.