Revolution: The Movie

Recently I was lucky enough to be invited to a pre-screening of Revolution, a new feature film being released tomorrow on April 12, 2013 and I highly encourage you go and see it if you have the chance. Here is a link to the trailer.revolution-poster_WEB

The film takes the audience through beautiful and biodiverse environments around the world and the scenery is stunning. If you’re reading this blog I have no doubt you’ll love what you see. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably be planning your next 10 years of vacations while watching it. There are some incredible stories about coral reefs, pygmy seahorses, cuttlefish and more (all of which are organisms featured in some of our family-friendly Way Cool lectures… check out videos of the lectures if you haven’t had a chance yet).

More important than the scenery is the information that director Rob Stewart shares with the audience about how all of these environments and the whole planet is under-threat. That realization isn’t new but most of us haven’t had the privilege to see first hand what is happening at the Great Barrier Reef, or in Papua New Guinea and other far flung destinations and that is part of the problem. The changes that are happening in these areas are largely unknown to us. Seeing what is happening there brings new understanding of the problems facing these sensitive ecosystems to people in the general public like you and me.

One of the aspects that I find most appealing about the film is how positive he is that we can turn things around. The film is not full of doom and gloom, (be forewarned there are some really eye opening moments, it’s definitely not all rosy), but rather an inspiring big picture look at our planet, climate change and what we as individual humans can do to turn this planet in the right direction.

Revolution takes Stewart’s first film Sharkwater to the next level. Sharkwater exposed what was happening in the sharkfinning industry to the mainstream and has resulted in huge success with countries and cities all over the world banning shark fin soup, but sadly not Canada as you may be aware of from recent news stories. I can’t wait to see what the public does with the information in his newest film.

Get out to the theatre this weekend and see this film. The way theatres work is that films that get large audiences will stay in theatres and this important message will be shared with even more people.

Written by: Katie Teed

Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications, UBC Biodiversity Collections