The Age of Stupid

Shot in seven countries over a period of three years, the film features six documentary stories, archive footage, and much animation from, amongst others, Passion Pictures, creators of the Gorillaz animations. The original rough cut did not include the archivist, which was added later to frame the story and better tie together the six parts.[2]

Franny Armstrong adopted a new model to fund the production of The Age of Stupid: crowdfunding. The approach, now popular with independent filmmakers, involves the pooling of money and other resources to support efforts initiated by other people or organisations. Thusly, The Age of Stupid's £450,000 budget was raised by selling "shares" to 223 individuals and groups who each donated between £500 and £35,000. These groups range from a hockey team to a health centre. Crowdfunding the film was done mostly to give it the best chance of reaching a mainstream multiplex audience, as well as to retain complete editorial control. These investors all own a percentage of the film and have received a pro-rata share in the profits, alongside the 105 crew members who worked for survival wages.[1]

In the Huffington Post, Jon Reiss described Armstrong’s approach as trailblazing: "the future of film, film culture and film distribution and marketing". He mentions that most of the budget, £857,000, was gathered "through direct contributions from their fans."[3]

A 55-minute documentary, The Making of The Age of Stupid, shows how the film was made,[4] the film itself was 1 hour 29 mins long[5]

The producers calculated the carbon footprint of the film's production to be around 95 tonnes of CO₂, and its promotion around 57 tonnes.[6]

The soundtrack includes songs from Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Dragnerve and The Band of Holy Joy, as well as an original orchestral score written by Chris Brierley.[7]

On 22 May 2009, The Age of Stupid team launched their Indie Screenings model, a new form of film distribution which allows anyone, anywhere to buy a licence to hold a screening of the film - with the price set according to the screener's means - and then, crucially, to charge for tickets and keep any profits for themselves. The launch on 22 May was held at The RSA, following which there was a webcast panel discussion[21] with director Franny Armstrong, journalist George Monbiot, economist Nicholas Stern, and Met Office head of climate impacts Richard Betts.[22] The panel discussion, organised by Indie Screenings, was screened at 71 locations.

The Indie Screenings model immediately proved extremely popular, with 682 screenings booked in the first four months, generating more than £55,000. After the cost of writing the software was paid off, 100% of the proceeds went to pay back the crowdfunding investors. There were no wholesalers or resellers.

Writing for The Guardian, environmental activist George Monbiot, who appears in the film, said its "message, never stated but constantly emerging, is that we all have our self-justifying myths. We tell ourselves a story of our lives in which we almost always appear as the heroes. These myths prevent us from engaging with climate change."[23] The Financial Times critic described the film as intelligent and provoking, giving "The wisdom of hindsight, today".[24] Time Out London's film editor, Dave Calhoun, said, "Armstrong's prognosis is apocalyptic, but her journalism is solid, instructive and pleasingly thoughtful," and described the film as "entertaining and provocative".[25] The Times called the film "the most imaginative and dramatic assault on the institutional complacency shrouding the issue", saying, "The power of this shameless campaigning film is that it gives dates and deadlines. It explores options and ideas. It names culprits..."[26] The Telegraph's reviewer, Sukhdev Sandhu, said, "Bold, supremely provocative, and hugely important, [Armstrong's] film is a cry from the heart as much as a roar for necessary change."[27]

Based on only 12 reviews Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 73%.[28] The New York Times described the film as a "much sterner and more alarming polemic than An Inconvenient Truth". The review noted the "gallows humor" throughout the film, although the review was critical of the crude animated sequences.[29] The Sydney Morning Herald described the film as "a wake-up call with an elegiac tone – not quite hectoring but pressing. This is about human nature, greed and personal responsibility. It aims to scare and galvanize – and it's pretty good at both."[2]

William Nicholson, writer of Shadowlands (1985) and Gladiator (2000), said: "I hate this film. I felt as if I was watching all my own excuses for not doing anything about climate change being stripped away from me".[30]

Phelim McAleer attended the New York City premiere of the movie; when McAleer asked the movie director how she got to the premiere in New York, security kicked him out of the event. Later, McAleer told The Irish News that the film should have been called the "Age of Hypocrisy".[31][32]

Scott Thill wrote in HuffPost that the film inspired him to popularise the term "cli-fi".[33]

• Grierson:Sheffields Awards - Best Green Doc 2008[15]
• Sunny Side of the Doc - Best Green Doc 2008[34]
• Sunny Side of the Doc - Film Most Likely To Be Cinema Hit 2008[34]
• Sunchild International Environmental Festival - First Prize[15]
• Birds Eye View Film Festival - Best Documentary 2009[15]
• British Independent Film Awards – Best Documentary 2009 (nominated)[15]

To help demystify the geo-political intricacies surrounding climate change, The Age of Stupid team staged a guerrilla production from the Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference (7 to 18 December 2009), called The Stupid Show. Franny Armstrong hosted the run of eight 40-60-minute shows which were broadcast live on the web daily from Friday 11 December until the final day of the conference, Saturday 19 December. Armstrong has described The Stupid Show as 'a budget version of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart but much sillier and more interactive'.[35]

The Stupid Show aimed to make the Copenhagen talks comprehensible to ordinary people using a mix of humour, stunts, video clips, graphic illustrations and interviews with delegates, climate change experts and activists billeted in the Danish capital Copenhagen for the summit. Highlights from the run included punditry from Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, an interview with author Naomi Klein, an interview with Ed Miliband conducted by Franny Armstrong whilst standing on her head, and a live link-up to an underwater camera in Belize which showed how climate change is devastating coral reefs. The production team consisted of nine people, all of whom worked with Armstrong on The Age of Stupid. Key members of The Stupid Show crew include producer Lizzie Gillett, writer Mark Lynas and editor Justin Badger.[36]

An offshoot of The Age of Stupid project is 10:10, a UK-wide campaign encouraging everyone in the United Kingdom to reduce their carbon emissions by at least 10% in 12 months. Franny Armstrong conceived the 10:10 campaign to complement the ongoing promotion of her film: while The Age of Stupid is primarily aimed at raising awareness of climate change as a pending global humanitarian crisis, 10:10 is presented as a strategy for people to take positive action in the face of such an urgent and daunting problem.

In 2019 to mark the ten-year anniversary of the film, The Guardian released a video revisiting Armstrong and other individuals featured in the film. Armstrong speaks to Mark Lynas about the 2 degree climate target and George Monbiot at a school strike for climate, and it is revealed the Cornish wind farm facing opposition in the film is eventually built.[37]