A stunning new archive documentary that looks for the roots of the climate crisis in Scotland’s post-war history.
Was climate change inevitable? In the year that Scotland hosts COP26, curator Emily Munro searches for the roots of the climate crisis in our post-war history. 130 years of moving image heritage can only offer us a glimpse of human history, yet the proliferation of video today makes the moving image a crucial and contested site for documenting our impact on the planet. In this new feature-length documentary, archive footage from the National Library of Scotland portrays a country shaped by demands for energy and economic growth, while an eclectic soundtrack amplifies the voices of the past in powerful, and sometimes unsettling, ways.
Are we heading into new territory, or are we caught in a cycle of familiar promises?
Content notes: Contains a brief depiction of alcohol consumption
Living Proof is a partnership project between the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive and Film Hub Scotland.
WATCH, READ, THINK, ACT
Our friends at Lighthouse (Edinburgh’s Radical Bookshop) have put together specially-curated reading lists for a selection of films in this year’s programme, inviting us to delve deeper into the issues explored in our line-up. Here you’ll find a list of books recommended by Christina relating to Living Proof; books which expand on the film’s themes of environmental justice and industry in Scotland, and tie these to a global struggle for climate justice which has never been more urgent.
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