The Age of Stupid (2009)

Director:

Franny Armstrong

Writer:

Franny Armstrong (written by)

Release Date:

20 August 2009 (New Zealand)

Genre:

Documentary | History | War

Tagline:

Why didn't we save ourselves when we had the chance?

Plot:

A future archivist looks at old footage from the year 2008 to understand why humankind failed to address climate change.

Plot Keywords:

Runaway Climate Change | Environmental Protest | Geopolitics | Oil Industry | Consumerism

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Pete Postlethwaite	...	The Archivist
Jeh Wadia	...	Himself
Alvin DuVernay	...	Himself
Layefa Malini	...	Herself
Jamila Bayyoud	...	Herself
Piers Guy	...	Himself
Lisa Guy	...	Herself
Fernand Pareau	...	Himself

Directed by
Franny Armstrong

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Franny Armstrong		written by

Produced by
Peter Armstrong	....	co-executive producer
John Battsek	....	executive producer
Lizzie Gillett	....	producer
Bruce Goodison	....	co-executive producer
Emily James	....	co-executive producer
Andrew Ruhemann	....	co-executive producer

Original Music by
Chris Brierley

Cinematography by
Lawrence Gardner

Film Editing by
David G. Hill

Casting by
Gemma Hancock
Sam Stevenson

Production Design by
David Bryan

Set Decoration by
Fran Cooper

Costume Design by
Heidi Miller

Makeup Department
Astrid Kearney	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Wendy Dunleavy	....	production supervisor
Lottie Gammon	....	production supervisor
Alex Koehler	....	production supervisor
Sylvia Wroblewska	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paul Judges	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
Ronald Bailey	....	sound mixer
Nick Cox	....	sound designer
Nigel Edwards	....	dubbing mixer
Jamie Selway	....	sound designer
Alfie Thomas	....	sound designer

Visual Effects by
James Feeney	....	visual effects
Marc Knapton	....	visual effects
Greg McKneally	....	visual effects supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Franny Armstrong	....	camera operator
Wailoon Chung	....	genny operator: set
Steve Cortie	....	gaffer
Dan Shoring	....	first assistant camera
Dana S. Wilson	....	still photographer (as Dana Wilson)

Animation Department
Robert Bradbrook	....	lead animator
Cath Elliot	....	lead animator
Daniel Haskett	....	lead animator
Peter Hill	....	lead animator
Jonathan Hodgson	....	animation director
Marc Knapton	....	lead animator
Greg McKneally	....	lead animator
Leo Murray	....	lead animator
Martyn Pick	....	animation director
Bill Porter	....	lead animator

Editorial Department
Andy Depledge	....	assistant editor
Perry Gibbs	....	colorist
David Kaplowitz	....	assistant editor
John Kerron	....	on-line editor
Jonathan Liebert	....	digital cinema mastering

Music Department
Marcus Bates	....	musician
Liz Cowdry	....	musician
Andrew Davis	....	musician
Ben Davis	....	musician
Gary McGibbon	....	musician
Kirsten Morrison	....	musician
Mark Pharoah	....	musician
Richard Pywell	....	musician
Peter Robinson	....	musician
Hannah Stuart	....	musician

Other crew
Kate Cook	....	location manager
George David	....	logistics
Tara Dean	....	legal
Sabrina Fidalgo	....	post-production translator
Edward Hemming	....	additional researcher
Archana Menon	....	production fixer
Alexandra Roxo	....	assistant producer: post-production

Production Companies

• Spanner Films

Distributors

• Dogwoof Pictures (2009) (UK) (theatrical)
• La Géode (2009) (France) (theatrical)
• T-Joy (2009) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Dogwoof Pictures (2009) (UK) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Planet Green (2010) (USA) (TV)
• Zon Lusomundo Audiovisuais (2009) (Portugal) (all media)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

92 min | Germany:89 min (European Film Market)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:12A | France:U | Argentina:Atp | Norway:11 | Australia:M | Portugal:M/6 | Hong Kong:I | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Cornwall, England, UK

Company:

Spanner Films

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the end of a timeline depicting the disasters Earth has to endure thanks to man's effect on global warming, an image of Earth is shown. Despite all talk of melting ice caps and rising sea levels, Earth's land mass looks exactly as it does when the film was made.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Archivist of the future:Welcome to the global Ark-ive, a vast storage structure located 800 km north of Norway. It contains the artwork from every national museum. There are pickled animals, stacked up, two by two; every film, every book, every scientific report, all stored on banks of servers. But the conditions we're experiencing now were actually caused by our behavior in the period leading up to 2015. In other words: we could have saved ourselves. We could have saved ourselves, but we didn't.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Pauw & Witteman: Episode #4.11" (2009)

Soundtrack:

A Life in Ashes

An interesting, though provoking film

Excellent film - a real wake-up call to all of us to think about the impact our lifestyles have on the environment, and the hypocrisy of the West in having enjoyed the lifestyles we have whilst dictating to those in countries like India and Africa that they should not be allowed to aspire to the same things.

As the contrasting points of view about the film on this site show...it certainly encourages debate, which can only be a good thing. It inspired me to want be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem, which is about as much as campaigning filmmaker can hope to achieve, isn't it?