On October 7th the University of British Columbia Climate Hub will support the launch of “Climate Comeback,” a gorgeous short film on the universal human story of falling down and finding the collective will to get back up again.
In early 2019, Grace Nosek, Student Director of UBC Climate Hub and Killam and Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation doctoral scholar studying how corporations have used law to undermine climate narratives, envisioned creating a short film harnessing the power of sports to bring people together around tangible climate action. Supported by the Climate Hub and UBC SEEDS Sustainability Program, Grace worked with an incredible team of graduate students, university stakeholders, athletes, and film students and professionals to bring “Climate Comeback” to life.
“Climate Comeback” is a 90-second film featuring ten athletes, including Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball Marni Abbott-Peter and Olympic swimmer Markus Thormeyer. The athletes share stories of their most challenging, improbable sports comebacks as a call to action on climate change. While highlighting the urgency of climate action—the United Nations has given us only 11 years to prevent climate catastrophe—the film gives three tangible actions everyone can take on climate change: 1.voice your climate concerns to friends and family; 2. volunteer for climate organizations; and 3.vote. It’s a simple guide for taking the first steps towards systemic climate action—voice, volunteer, vote.
In Canada alone, one million people participated in last month’s historic climate strikes to build a more just, intersectional, and beautiful future. People the world over are ready for a climate comeback. As the Unite Nations recently stated, athletes can be a key part of building the collective will for a climate comeback. The makers of the film are grateful to the leaders on the front lines, disproportionately youth and Indigenous peoples, who are showing the way to our resurgence. As Aspen Ono, Masters student at UBC and former elite figure skater, says in the film, sometimes when you get back up after being knocked down, “you can build something beautiful.”
The video was produced on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples.
The University of British Columbia Climate Hub is a student-led initiative connecting and empowering university and community stakeholders to take bold climate action for a just future.
Media contact: UBC Climate Hub, [email protected]
Link to Climate Comeback: https://www.facebook.com/UBCClimateHub/videos/2417458868369603/
The film features: Marni Abbott-Peter, Tyler Dozzi, Christopher Hansen-Barkun, Spencer Latu, Will Latu, Alger Liang, Abbey MacLellan, Aspen Ono, Markus Thormeyer, and Karl Zimmerman.
Credits:
Executive Produced and Original Idea By: Grace Nosek
Produced By: Avery Holliday
Directed By: Kat Jayme and Josephine Anderson
Production Coordinator: Liv Yoon
Edited By: Elad Tzadok
2nd Unit DP: Peter Planta
2nd Unit AC: Brock Newman
Gaffer: Yasmine Ross
B Camera: Bruno Martin del Campo
Sound Recordist: Isabella Jaramillo
Sound Design & Mix: Matt Drake, White Hart Post
Colourist: Sam Gilling
Key Production Assistant: Aspen Ono
With Support From:
Goldstein Productions
Dreamscience Films
We are profoundly grateful for the UBC Climate Hub’s comprehensive support of this project. We are also deeply thankful for support from the UBC SEEDS Sustainability Program, the UBC Workplace Sustainability Fund, the Alma Mater Society’s Sustainability Projects Fund, and UBC Kinesiology’s Centre for Sport and Sustainability.