Jan Arthus-Bertrand. Author: rebellious youth

YANN Arthus-Bertrand (Paris, 1946) has seen too much of who we are and, above all, of what we may one day cease to be. The unrestrained drift of global society, wrapped in dynamics based on consumption and overexploitation of soil, and the endangered beauty of our planet’s various corners are captured through the lens of this French documentary filmmaker. Thus, in the fight against climate change and inequality, he found the basis of his creative work, which has received wide international recognition.

The European creator’s work has reached Cuban shores and is today honored during the first edition of the Isla Verde Caribbean International Film and Environment Festival based on Isla de la Juventud. Arthus-Bertrand has just been honored by the Organizing Committee of the event with the Isla Verde Prize, an award given to personalities who, in their various fields of activity, contribute to the protection of the great home of all.

One of the highlights of the event was a retrospective exhibition of the works of the French creator, consisting of four full-length documentaries –Legacy, our legacy (2021) house (2009) planet ocean (2012) and Earth (2015). This is a fairly complete selection of the director’s years of striving to change the minds of people to improve life on the planet, showing realities, calling for a change in habits, appealing to a sense of collective and human

And he appeared on the big screen of the Caribe cinema in Nueva Gerona. Legacy, notre héritage (Legacy, our heritage)raw work, a dialogue with a thinking person, equipped with confirmation that we are not succeeding in reversing the climatic changes that have caused human activity on earth for centuries.

heritage… presupposes for the director to return along the path drawn in house and reaffirming that little has been done in a decade to address the issues he had already outlined in that first documentary in 2009, which was seen by more than 600 million people worldwide.

“Where did we come from? Where did the first spark of life come from? How has agriculture changed man’s relationship with nature? Have we forgotten that resources are scarce? Can we change the model? What will our Earth look like tomorrow?” just a few questions he asks. house and for which Arthus-Bertrand traveled to about 60 countries on all continents.

The result is amazing, moving and tearing images, a visual discourse that no doubt leaves us brooding and—when viewing the images ten years later—alarmed. Because at the height of the decade, with recent reports from United Nations experts on the temperatures that the Earth could reach in the coming years, as well as the consistent failure of recent calls for the Conference of the Parties (COP) to set a cap on current production and consumption patterns, only speaks of that the data can inevitably deteriorate.

heritage… brings the following assurances: “We need to reduce the use of fossil fuels by five percent every year”, “70 percent of CO2 emissions come from 10 percent of the world’s population”, “3 billion people could be displaced by 2070”. , some of this data adds to the well-known, if not well understood, global panorama of deforestation, loss of terrestrial and marine biodiversity, progressive polar melt, and other quasi-apocalyptic scenarios. But the creator prefers to appeal to concrete actions as a basis for maintaining hope.

“We are citizens, companies, states: together we can make a difference,” one of the last lines of the documentary. Arthus-Bertrand prefers the zenithal plane to reveal fractals that seem magnificent in nature, extraordinary landscapes that capture the attention of an enchanted viewer.

There is a tendency for the director to look at events with a sidelong glance, like a hawk that sees everything in a glimpse, and then comes and tells us about it. The work of this creator goes beyond the ecological, superficial view: he builds a story, the poetics of the ecological, in order to clearly speak about what surrounds us, what we do, what we do not do and what we can do to correct what is vital. .

Work dedicated to its time

Jan Arthus-Bertrand was aware of the tribute to the first edition of Isla Verde, although he could not attend. how did he know Jr Through the organizing committee of the event, the French director has not been flying for several years now, except in cases of emergency, in order to reduce the carbon footprint left by using this mode of transport. The said premise is an example for the rest of Humanity in achieving these changes in habits and environmental protection.

It’s about the environment, Earth And planet Ocean, Arthus-Bertrand joins director Michael Pitiot as the visual and audio storytelling takes on a more investing and intimate dimension for the viewer. We get access to some intimate corners of natural spaces, most of which our eyes will never see live, but this visualization helps to realize that we, Humanity, are playing in this climate battle.

This is precisely what the type of cinema created by directors like Yann Arthus-Bertrand and defended on platforms like the newly established Isla Verde Festival speaks for: showing to get together, moving to make you think. The photographer, aka the photographer, understands that in order to save the world, people must be saved first, so he also devotes a lot of creative time to communicating with them, understanding their desires and how they can help the common cause.

Projects such as Human, 2500 hours of filming in 60 countries, from which he received 2000 interviews on universal topics such as love, war, poverty or the future of the planet. The project was launched in 2015 before the UN General Assembly and had, among other things, the support of the GoodPlanet Foundation, which he created in 2005.

From Human born Woman (2019), another project to show the faces of inequality from the point of view of women, their experiences in different latitudes. Latest, alive And Renouer with live – both released in 2023 – remain in the homeland of the French director, who decided to show the special vision of the biodiversity of the French nation and the work of environmentalists. Added to this are photographic productions as amazing as audiovisual work, and there are books such as Architecture from the sky and the Earth seen from the sky: aerial photo of the planetbestseller all over the world.

On his official page, the creator writes and is convinced that “today, more than ever, the influence of photography depends on the message it conveys. I’m looking for meaning, style, emotion. Great photography cannot be invented; it’s a gift to be received.” It cannot be better defined, because Arthus-Bertrand’s gaze is a gift that excites and penetrates the mind. Fortunately, also thanks to access to digital platforms, his audiovisual work can be viewed on places like YouTube. Let’s go to them and talk to the creator, who talks about those urgent problems that concern all of Humanity.

Source: Juventud Rebelde