In their article “Envisioning Greener Futures: The Reception of Climate Action in Documentary Film” in OXFORD INTERSECTIONS: CLIMATE ADAPTATION , Alexa Weik von Mossner, Thomas Heintz, and Anna-Maria Plannerer provide insights into the research findings on the climate action films Duty of Care and 2040 from the VISIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY project.

While most films on the topic of climate change have tended to be dystopian in nature, a new wave of solution-oriented documentaries is currently emerging that highlight messages of hope and resilience by portraying people who are actively committed to climate protection.

This article examines two of these films—Luc Balthazar’s Duty of Care: The Climate Trials and Damon Gameau’s 2040: Join the Regeneration—and combines a qualitative analysis of their narrative and visual strategies with the results of surveys conducted as part of the inter- and transdisciplinary project “Visions of Sustainability” at the Sustainability Innovation Campus (ICN) during film screenings at the Harmonie Kino in Freiburg.

Based on transformative research for sustainability and empirical ecocriticism, the study shows that the two films instilled hope and a “willingness to act” in viewers and inspired them to do more for climate protection in their own lives and communities.

More information:

Weik von Mossner, Alexa, Thomas Heintz, and Anna-Maria Plannerer. „Envisioning Greener Futures: The Reception of Climate Action in Documentary Film.“ In Oxford Intersections Climate Adaptation, section „Narratives of the Future,“ edited by Adeline Johns-Putra and Chu Kiu-wai. New York: Oxford University Press.