Ten years after "An Inconvenient Truth" debuted and launched climate change into public consciousness and popular culture, and a day before President-Elect Donald Trump – who has called climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese – is sworn into office, "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth and Power"is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday.
The film is directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk. Davis Guggenheim, who directed "An Inconvenient Truth,"served as executive producer. Like its predecessor, the film follows former Vice President Al Gore on his quest to highlight how dire climate change has become while simultaneously showing how close humanity is to solving the crisis.
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In a battle of hearts and minds, the premiere comes one day before Donald Trump, a climate change denier, is sworn into office. To make matters worse for environmentalists, former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson is set to become secretary of state and Scott Pruitt, another climate change skeptic, is waiting to be confirmed as head of the Environmental Protection Agency – an organization he has sued 14 times as attorney general of Oklahoma.
The film also premieres days after scientists declared 2016 the hottest year in recorded history.
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According to Sundance’s website, the film will be part of a new section called, “New Climate, a program dedicated to conversations and films about environmental change and conservation.” In what is arguably part of the legacy of "An Inconvenient Truth," 13 other environmentally conscious documentaries will be screened.
“I believe that storytelling is the greatest platform for getting people to care and take action on some of the most pressing issues of our time," said longtime environmental activist and the film festival’s founder Robert Redford. "Amid escalating threats to our environment, independent perspectives are adding the depth and dimension needed for us to find common ground and real solutions.”
"An Inconvenient Truth" won two Academy Awards and helped earn Al Gore a Nobel Prize. If "An Inconvenient Sequel" is anywhere near as successful, hopefully we won’t need a trilogy in another 10 years.