MDFF 2021 - This Good Earth
With increasing damage to eco systems, destruction from global warming, growing mental and physical damage to millions of people, THIS GOOD EARTH offers answers to how change can happen.
Interview with Writer/Director Robert Golden
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
This film is about the reality of global warming, impoverished diets and rising hunger, disease and deaths, and also about loving the land and other living things and conversely about insisting that the only way to maintain one’s dignity and humanity is to resist, but also to turn away from the politicians and CEO’s impervious and brutal order, for us to become a new and better people whilst at the same time pointing our fingers at those who would destroy our grandchildren’s lives.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Unlike many films, THIS GOOD EARTH seeks to create a unified whole understanding out of the many elements of the long food chain from soil to plate. For instance, It helps people to understand the relationship between soil degradation and the climate crisis, between eating beef and the huge waste of energy and land occurring everyday, between corporate greed and ill health, and many other problems that are leading our earth and our species towards flaming Holocausts, flooding, illness and death. It seeks to awaken people to those politicians, corporate actors and others who are condemning their children and grandchildren to a hellish world of migrations, poverty and wars, as it encourages people to fall or re-fall in love with this beautiful earth.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The in-depth interviews reveal both the speaker's knowledge and her/his emotional commitment to their work. At the same time the whole structure of the film is based in the particular conditions of Dorset as a representation of many national and international problems playing their role in our universal existential crisis
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
All of my films begin with a set of notions, ideas, points-of-view to be used as a basis for stating research and choosing subject matter to represent the themes. By encountering the reality of the world I enter and through listening closely to what people are and often aren't saying in interviews, I begin to recognise that my high concept needs to be altered. In THIS GOOD EARTH, the original theme altered twice, based on me coming to understand emotionally and intellectually that what I was uncovering was more important than the themes and structures I began with.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Many people have responded by saying three things: that the film is very beautiful, that it is very clear and that it is revealing of something so central to our existence and that everybody should see it and especially young people, as it is about their futures.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The feedback has really surprised me. Although I intended the film to be visually beautifully and emotionally strong, to find that it worked so well is deeply satisfying. The beauty was intended to embrace the audience while the hard facts were meant to stir people up...this combination has seemingly worked.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Anything that can get the message of the film to people will be a great help.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We need a sales agent or a distributor who gets the meaning and importance of the film, film festival directors and journalists who may help to connect with potential audiences.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
The film is causing discussions, helping people to formulate and ask tough questions, perhaps waking some people up to the impending crisis; I want more of that.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
The people interviewed in the film reveal a depth of knowledge about what changes are vital; the structure of the film reveals the interconnectivity of the problems; the consequences uncomfortably (for some) point a finger at those people and corporations standing in the way of immediate change and call for tough legal consequences to be enacted against them. A debate seems to exist over doing so. That is the central point of tension in the film, all the rest are the revelations which frame this tension.
Would you like to add anything else?
I am surprised and in some cases disappointed with some editorial writers and organisations who should be natural allies of the film, have chosen to ignore it.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I have two film projects in development. One is to support spreading the word about a new Rights Respecting Charter and the other is about an attempt to document the private thoughts and emotions of different groups of people to reveal their most profound attitudes at this transitional moment in European history. I also am finishing a book about creative motivation applied to making photographs.
Interview: July 2021
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. 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
This Good Earth
Length:
1 hour 30 minutes
Writer
ROBERT GOLDEN has written over 40 film scripts for documentaries and feature films as well as 15 books, 1 novel, an epic poem and other poetry and 3 plays.
Director
ROBERT GOLDEN began his career as a photojournalist photographing many stores for magazines and newspapers. Afterwards he directed and was the DOP on over 900 commercials for TV, over 40 documentaries and 2 award fiction films.
Producer
ROBERT GOLDEN has produced or co-produced several feature films and over 40 documentaries.
TINA ELLEN LEE has co-produced with Robert Golden over 40 documentaries as well as numerous theatre productions.
Looking for:
Journalists, Buyers, Distributors
Where can I watch it now?