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This campaign will fund sending
a crew to the U.N. Climate Talks in Paris in December 2015, as well as
hiring additional local teams to follow around our characters at
different key points. Your contributions are crucial to paying for
equipment, crew, flights, accommodation. And croissants. We have to
eat too!
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We’ve been to Tunisia to cast our characters at the World Social Forum. Then, over to Paris to meet up with Alix, Cindy, and Payal at strategic meetings for the COP21. And with 30 seconds to spare, hopped on a train down to the south of France to catch Max on Alternatiba’s bike tour across Europe.
We've shot some amazing, inspiring footage so far -- but truthfully, to make the film work, we need to be in Paris during the U.N. negotiations in December. That’s where we’ll see the real action: on the streets with our characters during this important moment in our planet’s future.
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A native Parisian, Alix Mazounie didn’t learn English until her family relocated for a stint in Australia. There, at the age of 7, she became a (very tiny) activist — her first words written in English were “stop cars from polluting.” She’s been crusading for the environment ever since.
As an international policy coordinator with Climate Action Network France, Alix’s work includes strategizing with activists from around the world leading up to the U.N. talks in December. She’s also our U.N. insider, reporting on the negotiations and coordinating with French non-profits to influence their government.
Because of her expertise, she’s also become a bit of a media star -- watch out for her talking about climate change on the news and at events throughout Paris.
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Our second leading lady is
Cindy Wiesner, the National Coordinator for
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance in the U.S. Like anyone who works for a non-profit, she’s got her hands in a million different projects — but leading up to the U.N. Climate Talks in December, she’s focusing on building a powerful grassroots delegation from all over the country.
Although she lives in Miami now, Cindy still has her ties to the Bay Area — she called Oakland home for many years. It’s also where she first became activated, drawn into the vibrant student movement in Berkeley in the early 90's.
Twenty some years later, she’s still going strong, working on everything from labor rights to women’s empowerment issues to environmental justice inequities. Clearly, Cindy’s taking on the world, and we’ll be following behind her every step of the way. Not to be creepy — that's just what documentary crews do.
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Nnimmo Bassey is probably the most decorated character in Not Without Us. Not to brag, but he was named one of Time magazine’s Heroes of the Environment in 2009, named co-winner of the Right Livelihood Award in 2010, and awarded the Rafto Prize in 2012.
Why he won all those awards: Nnimmo has been actively fighting human and environmental rights abuses since the ’80s, specifically rampant oil spills in his home country of Nigeria. It has been estimated that spills equivalent to the size of that from the Exxon Valdez have occurred in the Niger Delta every year over the past 50 years. Excuse our language, but holy sh*t.
As founder and former Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria and in his current position as Director of the HOME Foundation, he has helped uncover the extent of ecological and human damage done by oil extraction, and has inspired a movement across Nigeria, Africa, and globally.
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Max Rademacher is part of the Alternatiba team, a grassroots organization focused on connecting with the people around them — whether that’s through workshops, exhibits, parades, singing, dancing, you name it. Right now, they’re taking their efforts on tour, biking around Europe to raise awareness about alternative solutions to help fight climate change.
In our previous trip to Paris, we tracked Max down in Narbonne, an incredibly friendly little town in the south of France. His crew rolled in with a critical mass of bikes, a sound system (bike-powered, duh), and got the party started. Did we mention Max raps? He kicked off their alternative village with a rap about their bike journey and why the hell they had showed up in Narbonne’s town square. At least, we think so. Our French is a little rusty.
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Payal Parekh is equal parts scientist (with a PhD in oceanography from MIT) and activist, fighting for environmental and humanitarian causes across the world as the Global Managing Director for 350.org.
Although her home base is now in Switzerland, she first found herself drawn into activism when she was still a teenager living in Bombay, India. Her uncle was running late so she picked up a booklet to pass the time (not your average teen, clearly). Reading on, she found out about a dam project, funded by World Bank, was doing more harm than good -- all in all, it was projected to displace 400,000 people.
This kicked her into action, and ever since she’s been fighting the good fight. We’ll find Payal in the streets of Paris this December, waiting to mobilize 350’s massive following. If necessary.
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Pablo Solon is fed up with the U.N., and rightfully so. As Bolivia’s Ambassador to the United Nations from 2009 to 2011, as well as their Chief Negotiator on climate issues, he’s seen his fair share of frustrating climate policies.
During the Climate Talks in Cancún in 2010, Pablo stood as the sole country in opposition to the proposed climate agreement. Full of non-binding pledges and loopholes for polluters, he felt the text was a giant step in the wrong direction. He was accused of being obstructionist, obstinate, and unrealistic, but ultimately, he felt he had to defend the future of Bolivia, as well as the rest of the world.
Since then, Pablo has served as the Executive Director of Focus on the Global South, where he continued his work on climate change and its effect on vulnerable populations. He’s no longer with the NGO as of a couple months ago, but he’ll be at the COP21 in force.
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Pat Mooney is a Canadian high school drop-out, with no formal university training. Despite all that, he’s widely regarded as an expert on agriculture biodiversity and new technology issues. For more than 50 years, he’s chosen to learn outside the classroom -- traveling the world in the 60’s as a youth consultant for the U.N., working in international development throughout the 70’s, and then finally co-founding the ETC Group in the 80’s.
He’s still with that same organization, and serves as the Executive Director. Their focus? Addressing the impact of new technologies on vulnerable communities. In our globalized world, his work is imperative to protecting the culture, human rights, and ecosystems of the places with the least power.
Pat has accomplished all this while also being legally blind. His recommendation for international travel? Bring a white cane along. “I've been rescued from so many situations by so many different people in so many different cultures in so many different classes...everyone's looking out for you.”
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Most of the perks in our campaign are pretty self-explanatory -- you can get a digital download of the film, make the team go vegan for a week, attend a special screening in San Francisco, or hire us out for a shoot and edit session. Check out the sweet sidebar for all the info you need.
HOWEVER, we do need to show you the t-shirt!
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Claim your very own Not Without Us t-shirt, offered exclusively through this campaign! Available in sizes S-XL. Women's shirt not pictured, but it will look very similar. Just more ladylike.
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We also have something for all you winos! Bay Area gem La Honda Winery has graciously donated a case of their 2011 Lonehawk Cabernet Sauvignon to our cause! It’s a Double-Gold medal winner from the San Francisco Chronicle, and is described as a big, dense wine, with notes of “juicy blackberries, dried lavender juniper spice and cigar box.” Mmmm.
We’re offering it up for $75 (as vouchers good for one bottle!), and comes with a digital copy of the film. Unfortunately, this is a California only perk — so if you live in the golden state, step on up and get yourself a bottle of this delicious mountain-grown wine.
More about the wine here: http://www.lahondawinery.com/wines/2011-lonehawk-cabernet-sauvignon-santa-cruz-mountains/
** Please note, all contributions will be processed through our connected nonprofit, The Free History Project Inc.
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Mark Decena : Director
MARK DECENA is a writer, director and producer of feature films, television programming, web films, and commercials. A three time Sundance alumni, Mark's first feature, Dopamine won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize. Decena's documentary work spans across themes of social justice, sustainable design and the environment. He wrote and directed the Redford Center’s latest film, Watershed, and was a writer and producer on Stand Up Planet, a Gates funded project currently on air on Participant Media’s channel, Pivot. Mark is also the founder of Kontent Films, a boutique production company based in San Francisco.
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Robert Humphreys : Director of Photography
Rob began his filmmaking career freelancing in his hometown, Harare, Zimbabwe, where he worked on films with social and political themes. This experience focused his attention on broader issues challenging systemized belief and behavior. Most notably he lensed the environmentally conscious Design e2 series for PBS, where he travelled the world extensively, meeting many great innovators and thought leaders. In time he has come to realize that it is an innate sense of humility informs conscientious change. It is from this revelation that Rob finds the narrative style he infuses into story and visual design.
Rob and Mark go way back -- they met at the Sundance Filmmaker Labs, and he went on to DP on Mark's first feature film, Dopamine (winner of the Sloan Prize at Sundance). His feature work has taken him all over Africa, Asia, Europe, and throughout the United States. To date, the films he has shot have garnered over 20 awards internationally, from Sundance to South by Southwest; from Oldenburg to Ouagadougou.
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Teri Heyman : Executive Producer
TERI HEYMAN is Executive Producer at Kontent Films, and she is involved in every project through pre-production, production and post. Teri keeps all projects on time and on budget while being a firm supporter of allowing the creative process to flourish. Her work spans feature length narratives and documentaries, commercials and brand films, television programming and web content. Teri’s latest two projects are the award-winning documentary film Watershed, narrated by Robert Redford, and Stand Up Planet, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and airing on PivotTV.
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Liz Decena : Producer
LIZ DECENA is a die hard New Yorker, and loathes to admit that she has lived half of her life in San Francisco. But that duality allows her to be a Producer comfortable developing and producing projects of similar opposing spectrums. Ranging from award winning narrative love stories at Sundance to documentary short films on the downside of rapacious capitalism at Philanthropy conferences, Liz has guided all aspects of Kontent projects. Her other full time job includes raising two children, holding down the fort, and making sure (her husband) Mark’s head doesn’t get too big to take out the trash. She’s a bad ass.
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Sara Cortese : Associate Producer
SARA CORTESE'S childhood love of tap dancing has suited her well. Cortese is the official Hyphenate at Kontent. Although we all wear many hats, Sara may wear the most: associate producer, editor, development researcher, field sound recordist, social media voice, shooter, you name it. In her short time at Kontent, Sara helped shepherd "Stand Up Planet," co-edited the short film "Our Power," which premiered at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital, and also edited “Wilderness 50” which is playing in the Smithsonian. I guess they like her in DC, which is kind of weird since she’s from Kansas. We give her endless grief for that. So if you ever need anything, Sara has a hand in all Kontent projects in development, production and editorial. Considering the mountain of things we throw her way, her other love of rock climbing is a plus.
