How to Change the World
In 1971, a group of brave young activists set sail from Vancouver in an old fishing boat called “Phyllis Cormack”. Their mission: to stop President Nixon’s atomic bomb tests in Amchitka, a tiny island off the west coast of Alaska. It was from these humble but courageous beginnings that the global organization that we now know as Greenpeace was born. Their vessel was captured by the US Coast guard and forced to dock in Alaska, here the team discovered the multitude of civil protests that were sprouting up in every major Canadian city, and the atomic tests were postponed. Chronicling the fascinating untold story behind the modern environmental movement, this gripping film tells the story of eco-hero Robert Hunter and how he, alongside a group of like-minded and idealistic young friends in the ’70s, would be instrumental in altering the way we now look at the world and our place within it. Armed only with a 16mm film camera, the group realized the importance of journalistic reportage and began documenting many of Greenpeace’s protest actions.
For his gripping documentary “How to Change the World”, director Jerry Rothwell was allowed access to use a huge archive of incredible, previously unpublished film footage.