ABU DHABI: An Oscar-nominated and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker says she is inspired by ‘small steps’ taken by her viewers to protect the environment for a better tomorrow.
‘It is not only about achieving the change but trying. As long as you are able to move the needle a little bit every single time; that is all any of us could hope for,’ says Laura Nix who has directed and produced several films, including the critically acclaimed ‘Inventing tomorrow’ (2018) that followed young scientists around the globe tackling environmental issues.
Small steps, moving forward
‘It is to make small steps, because if everybody is making small steps, then we all move forward a little bit together. After I have made these films, we get feedback from people that they were inspired to get involved in something in their community,’ she tells the Emirates News Agency (WAM) in an interview during the recently held Global Media Congress (GMC) in Abu Dhabi where she was a speaker. Her films have been shown on prominent channel
s, including HBO and PBS.
‘Inventing tomorrow’ reached 5000 classrooms across the United States, and teachers reported increased interest in science classes among their students. ‘And that is exactly we are trying to do. It is to just get people engaged instead of giving up hope, right?’
She further explains that it is an attempt to encourage people to understand what is going around them and try to be part of the possible change.
Her works include the short documentary ‘Walk Run Cha-Cha;’ feature documentaries ‘The Light in Her Eyes,’ ‘The Yes Men Are Revolting,’ and ‘Whether You Like It Or Not: The Story of Hedwig; as well as the fiction feature ‘The Politics of Fur.’
Youngsters give hope
Nix derives hope about the future from youngsters. ‘One very hopeful thing that I believe in is when I talk to young people, they are very clear about this. They know what is happening, they know what they need to do to change it, and they feel very activated and motivated to make that change.’
She believes in listen
ing to and learning from young people. During the making of ‘Inventing Tomorrow,’ she encountered incredibly talented youngsters proposing solutions to significant challenges they face.
‘They do that because they know they do not have a choice. This is what they inherited. The world that I grew up in is a very, very different world than the one that they are facing.’
Nix says the young generation is very clear about it and they very focused on making the required change. They are trying to change certain ‘environmentally degrading’ practices of the previous generations, she says.
Long- vs. short-form content
While Nix typically produces 90-minute documentaries, she acknowledges the current preference for short-form content among the younger generation. However, she finds it an inevitable change.
‘I feel like I am a little bit of a dinosaur because I still make 90-minute documentaries and young people really don’t want to watch that.’
However, she keeps herself open to see how the youngsters make short-f
orm content. ‘I still like a longer story because I think it allows you to go on a journey. For me, it is more possible to become emotionally involved in a story if I am really able to spend time with the characters and watch something unfold over time.’
But she says that a young person might not agree with that. ‘They might think that short is the way to go.’
Accepting the change
However, she accepts that change. ‘I think we have to imagine that change is inevitable and if we fight change, we are not going to win.’
Nix believes that while respecting one’s own tradition in any artform and learning from it, one has to be flexible to changes.
She did it with her own long film ‘Inventing Tomorrow.’ The movie was turned into a couple of short films to screen it in classrooms when teachers said they did not have time for a long film. ‘So, I believe in both.’
The filmmaker does not want to be purist about it. ‘I like watching longer films. I like making them. But the world is what it is. People are busy, life
is complicated. And if I have to take my feature length film and cut it down into something short, so that it is possible to get it in a classroom and get young people to watch it, I will do it.’
Deep experience, being pragmatic
Asked whether the short-form content lacks depth of knowledge and experience, Nix agrees but suggests being pragmatic about the form of content.
She says short-form work may lack some depth of experience due to limited time for character connection. ‘It is more possible to create a deeper emotional experience with the film if it is longer.’
However, Nix finds that sometimes short-form is able to communicate something that gets to the heart of the matter that can also work.
‘I think at this point we have to be pragmatic and make all different kinds of content and not decide that some things are better or worse than others. Just recognise who is going to watch what and give people a buffet of options to be able to engage with issues that we care about,’ says Nix who was named a 201
8 Chicken Egg Breakthrough Filmmaker.
She was awarded the Sundance Institute/Discovery Impact Fellowship in 2017. Raised in New York state and based in Los Angeles, she is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
At the Global Media Congress, Nix shared her experiences of filmmaking with the audience.
Global Media Congress
Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, the second edition of the GMC themed ‘Shaping the Future of the Media Industry, took place in November. The three-day international event was organised by ADNEC Group in strategic partnership with WAM at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
This year’s GMC saw a phenomenal increase in attendance, with 23924 visitors, compared to 13556 the previous year, showing a 76.48 percent increase. The number of participating countries also increased, with 172 countries, among them 31 new countries participating for the first
time. Covering 32,000 square metres, the Congress’s footprint grew 78 percent from last year, attracting 160 overall speakers from 18 different countries.
Source: Emirates News Agency