‘Paris to Pittsburgh’ film: Climate change doesn’t have to divide us
Once the face of innovation, the plant was nearly defunct by the time he graduated from Michigan State in the 1970s.
"These stories go deep for people from the industrial north -- we've seen these kinds of transformations," the 62-year-old said.
The idea of rebuilding is central to Beaumont's new documentary, "
Beaumont's question, though, remains the same: In the face of massive loss, how can places use technology not only to reconstruct, but also future-proof themselves?
Answering that meant a grueling six months of travel between places like
At
Meanwhile in the highlands of Adjuntas,
"Those counterpoints are amazing -- the contrast in terms of the daunting challenges they're facing but really the way communities respond to that, and find ways to look forward and grapple," Beaumont said.
The film strives for a transcendent-of-politics attitude that may cause eyebrow-raising among skeptics. But Beaumont's attitude is that climate change does not have to divide people, he said. The team took pains to interview Republican leaders, and the documentary points out for-profit companies like Apple, Microsoft and Facebook that have committed to renewable energy.
Overly optimistic? Beaumont prefers the word "aspirational," but asserts that the diversity of thinkers on climate innovation is reflected around the country, with many Republican-leaning cities and apolitical companies looking to green tech.
"We're seeing things moving in the right direction. ... Does it mean we're there? Certainly not," Beaumont said.
Of course, that progress is a stark departure from the national attitude on climate change, and the movie doesn't ignore that, either. The title is a nod to
As shown in the film,
And it's permeated the rest of his career, too, said Michigan State buddy
"He was always into the idea -- and I think the same is true for
After MSU, Beaumont earned a master's degree in sociology from
Filmmaking felt like the most natural way to align the social and cultural issues that he'd studied, Beaumont said.
He went on to produce television and movies on a range of political topics, notably 2015's "What Happened,
But Beaumont consciously decided to focus on climate change after about 2011, when Hurricane Irene hit
"That was a moment when I started putting together -- on a personal level -- looking at the prospects of my son, my child, with accumulating evidence that we really needed to address this problem," Beaumont said.
After marinating on that impulse for a few years, he produced Michael Bonifiglio's 2017 "From the Ashes," which traced the fallout from the coal industry. Bonifiglio co-directed "
No matter how staunchly they feel about the issue, Beaumont wants viewers to experience a twofold message in the film. One, climate disasters don't belong to some distant future. And two, it's not too late to act, even for cities like
He'll return to metro
"The industrial workers and coal miners made this country, and not to be too grandiose, but made the civilization we had," Beaumont said. "But it's also an example of what we can do and have to do in this moment."
Contact
'
With live Q&A with co-director
Tickets (
Broadcast premiere
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