Anand Patwardhan: Can there be peace? The cultural revolution begins with TV and cinema

This is a transcription of filmmaker Anand Patwardhan’s keynote address at the European Conference, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, on November 14.

I’m not sure what qualifies me to speak on Earth, War and Cinema other than the fact that I have said in the past that the best disseminated films today are not often about issues that we desperately need to think about.

It may sound like I’m advocating a prescriptive mode of filmmaking, but this is not what I mean. Cinema is, after all, an intervention. It can at times make a huge difference to the world. This pre-supposes two things. One, that a film is the outcome of an urgently felt need at ground level. Two, that there are ears and eyes to receive it and gatekeepers who allow its passage.

Earth and war are intimately related issues. We know that 50% of the world’s fossil fuels accumulated over millions of years have been used up in less than 150 years after the industrial revolution. We know that the burning of this fuel is causing what is probably irreversible climate change – with melting ice caps, flooding, drought, destruction of forests, to name just a few of the present and impending disasters. The reliance...

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