Mariella Frostrup to chair YouTube Panel – Story to Action
“In the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality.”
Arundhati Roy, Indian Novelist, The Pandemic is a Portal
After the pandemic, what comes next?
Story to Action, is a conversation with Jaime Winstone, actress and activist; James Thornton, Founder and CEO, Client Earth; and Jerry Rothwell, filmmaker.
Moderated by Mariella Frostrup, the discussion will take place on Tuesday, 28 April at 5pm (GMT), through the MetFilm School YouTube channel.
The discussion will cover:
- What role do storytellers have in ushering in a better world?
- How do we best unlock the role and power of storytelling in shaping political and social change?
- With much of the world in lockdown, how do we influence the rebuilding and renewal that will come when the crisis starts to abate, in terms of global challenges and climate change.?
- · What needs to happen as we emerge out of the crisis, to ensure we grab the opportunity to create an improved world and not revert to an unsustainable normal?
Storytelling will be the most important channel with which to change the world.
Blue Planet, David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg are all household names bringing information through stories about serious environmental issues to the masses.
These stories helped climate issues shoot up the agenda for last year’s general election, with a poll last year revealing that more than half of voters said that the climate emergency would influence how they cast their vote.
The will was there, but the way forward wasn’t clear. The COVID-19 pandemic may have changed that.
Jonny Persey, Director at MetFilm School says: “Although the virus still remains a massive global threat, now may be the time to start thinking about what comes next – since it has changed how we all live – albeit temporarily.
“A few weeks ago, climate change was everywhere: in the news, in the papers, in social media and on our minds. And then, like a bolt of thunder, Coronavirus changed the agenda, and for a while nobody could talk or think about anything else.”
We all tell stories for a reason. Sometimes it’s simply to entertain, at other times it’s to provoke, to change people’s perspective on the world, and… sometimes it’s a call to action.
The Government keeps telling us it’s ‘following the science’, but without the ‘story’ (STAY HOME, PROTECT THE NHS, SAVE LIVES) scientific messages wouldn’t be heard or understood… or acted upon by millions of people.
Jonny adds: “We have been discussing pollution, but now we actually have reduced petrol consumption and reduced air travel.
“We have been talking about sustainability, but we are now actually moderating our food consumption and are more concerned about where the food is coming from.
“We have been harping on about big society and spending more on everyone, and now we actually are.
“In short, we have been so focused on things and work and money, but now we are focused on each other, and the planet.”
STORY TO ACTION: A CONVERSATION – LIVE ON YOUTUBE Is bought to you by MetFilm School in collaboration with Arts Alliance, Procam, Picturehouse Cinemas, MUBI and BAFTA
Moderated by Mariella Frostrup, the discussion will take place on Tuesday, 28 April at 5pm (GMT), join us live through the MetFilm School YouTube channel.