With a screening of clips from the new post-apocalyptic musical The End, the science communications platform Arctic Basecamp brought a powerful message to the World Economic Forum in Davos. The movie confronts the climate crisis head-on.
The film features Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Michael Shannon and Moses Ingram. The End is a wake-up call about the consequences of self-deception, especially when it comes to climate action. Michael Shannon plays a retired oil CEO. In a key scene, he says: ‘The other companies were worse. At least I cared.’ The family’s reckoning with difficult truths also points to a different way forward, one based on acceptance, love, and a capacity for change.
During a Q&A session in Davos, Michael Shannon and director Joshua Oppenheimer engaged in discussions with CEOs and climate activists, emphasizing the urgent need for change. They stressed the need of business leaders to embrace climate action and do more to protect our planet than we admit we can.
They mentioned Follow This, as an organization changing Big Oil from within. ‘When a film like this can inspire energy companies to change from within. I don’t need to feel resigned anymore’ says Think-Film CEO Danielle Turkov Wilson. ‘I can still fight. There are people on the inside that are going to do something. I think we’ve spent so long thinking it’s the end and this film actually articulates that it’s not.’
‘We hope the CEOs of Big Oil watch the apocalyptic movie The End and realize they are the primary actors,’ Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, said. ‘They should take bold and brave decisions today to prevent the disastrous future it portrays. Just as Reagan allegedly started talking with Gorbachev after watching The Day After – a movie about the devastating effects of a nuclear war and the human cost of such a conflict.’
The End is set to be released in Germany, Austria and the UK in March 2025.
Photo above: panel at Arctic Basecamp in Davos. Credits to Sylvia Shannon.
