SHEFFIELD - Footprint
Footprint takes a dizzying spin around the globe witnessing population explosions, overconsumption, limited resources, and expert testimony as to what a world straining at its limits can sustain. We spend time with indigenous health workers, activists, and the ordinary people who all challenge the idea that our world can continue to support the weight of humanity’s footprint on it.
Watch Footprint on Kanopy
Length: 82mn
Director: Valentina Canavesio
Producer: Valentina Canavesio
About the writer, director and producer: Valentina is a Brooklyn-based TV and documentary film producer whose work focuses on social issues. She has worked on features including These Birds Walk which premiered at SXSW. Footprint is her debut feature film as a director.
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): sales agents, buyers, distributors
Funders: Various family foundations
Release date: World Premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest June 10th
Where can I watch it? Sheffield Doc/Fest for now
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The issues raised in my film - population growth, overconsumption and resource decline, social justice - play a huge part in the issues of climate change and the environment and yet are rarely focused on when discussing these challenges. I thought it was important to do so.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
For the same reasons that compelled me to make it in the first place. I don't have all the solutions but I'm hoping my film will start a conversation on these topics. Some of the people challenging the status quo may come as a surprise, just as the antagonists standing in the path of resolving some of these challenges.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Beyond the scope of "talking heads" it was important to humanize large issues with the people who pay the highest price for them. Accordingly, the lived reality of the larger points made in the film - population growth, declining resources, social injustice, etc- are through the workers and families who contend with these challenges on a day to day level. It's easy to forget about the real people behind numbers and statistics, so it was important for me to hear from these people directly.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
I learned a lot through the course of making this film. I started off focusing solely on population and quickly realized that population goes hand in hand with consumption and you cannot look at one without looking at the other. And those issues and how to solve them are also very much tied to social justice, women's empowerment and reproductive health.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
People are surprised by some aspects of the film that they'd never heard about and the access we got in some places.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The feedback i received early on allowed me to expand my point of view and approached the film differently than I originally planned.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I hope more people will be exposed to it and find a way to watch it as it goes through the festival circuit worldwide and eventually, we hope, TV and digital platforms.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Anyone who has an interest in the social issues that are raised.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I hope people will enjoy the film and that it will be a conversation starter around the issues it explores.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How do we raise the living standards of part of the world's population that needs it when we are already consuming more than the Earth can sustain?
Would you like to add anything else?
Come see the film!
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I just had a baby, so I'm working on that in the immediate future, while thinking of my next project!
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If you found reading 'Footprint' interesting we recommend Women Are The Answer
Logline: Population growth has been left out of the climate debate because it is considered controversial, yet it is one of the most important factors. The global population has passed the 7 billion mark and India will soon overtake China as the most populous nation in the world, but one state in southern India has found the solution: Kerala educates its women.
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela