Rooftop Films, Oscilloscope Pictures & The Fledgling Fund present
NO IMPACT MAN
A local family drama with global implications: the inspirational (and controversial) No Impact Man (and family) challenge themselves to make no environmental impact for one year. Rooftop and The Fledgling Fund invite you to join the challenge.
OPEN BAR AFTER PARTY FOLLOWING THE SCREENING FOR ALL IN ATTENDANCE
| NO IMPACT MAN BLOG
No refunds. In the event of rain, the show will be indoors at the same locations. Seating is first come, first served. Physical seats are limited. This means you may not get a chair. You are welcome to bring a blanket and picnic.
A local family drama with global implications. This engaging and personal documentary follows Colin Beavan for a year as he pledges to eat only locally-grown food, use only self-mechanized transportation, buy no new products, even go without electricity . . . and bring his wife and daughter along for the ride. The inspirational (and controversial) No Impact Man (and family) have challenged themselves to make no environmental impact for one year. Rooftop and The Fledgling Fund invite you to join the challenge by making similar pledges between the time of this screening and the time of the film and book’s release in September.
Most everyone agrees that changes need to be made to save the environment. But most people also think that someone else should be making those changes. People make the easy choices—drop their recyclable plastics in the proper bin, buy an organic piece of fruit when it’s convenient. But how many among us are willing to make real changes in our lives? How hard would these changes be? How much will they change our lifestyles? Are these adaptations actually helpful? And is it possible that they could not only improve the environment, but our level of happiness as well?
Colin Beavan, a writer living in Manhattan with his wife and daughter, decided to find out.
For one year, Beavan would become “No Impact Man,” attempting to live his normal life, in New York City, but without leaving an impact on the environment. No new products. No chemicals. No non-local food. No electricity. He sacrificed his personal comfort, risked his self-esteem, and even jeopardized his relationship with his family, all for this strange test.
The challenge is, of course, rather quixotic. Couldn’t Beavan simply reduce, reuse, recycle, like so many of us (try to) do? But his obsessiveness generates immediate, widespread attention for the project—for better and worse. While the acclaim raises awareness for the waste and excess in American culture, Beavan has also placed himself under a very public microscope, and the detractors range from dismissive major media outlets to mean-spirited personal attacks. Under pressure, Beavan is forced to re-examine No Impact Man, to question this idea that’s the driving force in his life, but will he renounce it?
The public scrutiny provides the intellectual spark for the film, but the tension between Colin and his wife Michelle Conlin is the emotional core of the movie. Conlin lives like so many of us: proudly eating takeout, compulsively buying the latest products, taking for granted the excessive habits of consumerism. Sneaking an espresso here and there seems a minor offense, but the guilt from Colin is burdensome. I’m sure many of us think we could handle a year without chemical laundry detergent or new handbags, but what about a fly-infested compost bin in the kitchen, or a pot-within-a-pot refrigeration experiment? And what of her job at Business Week magazine, examining (and in many ways promoting) the essence of the culture No Impact Man is critiquing?
This endearing and fascinating film inspires us all to question our roles in environmental change, and challenges us all to ask what we as individuals can do. Colin’s experiment in lifestyle redesign is the subject of his book (scheduled for publication in September 2009 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux), No Impact Man, and he also maintains the provocative environmental blog, www.noimpactman.com. The entire No Impact Man outreach project—including the film, the book and the blog—are an exciting addition to the existing environmental movement. Colin is using the lessons from his experiment and its aftermath to encourage a more sustainable lifestyle, encouraging people around the country to make small and large lifestyle changes and to participate as engaged citizens in their community.
The lawn of Automotive High School will host a celebration of environmentally-friendly activities, as Rooftop Films and The Fledgling Fund utilize the screening of No Impact Man to engage audience members in making environmentally-friendly lifestyle commitments . Just Food will get people involved in their “make bee keeping legal in NY campaign”, the Greenmarket will do a local foods cooking demonstration, The NY Office of Recycling will do a “what can you recycle/what can you not recycle” game, the LES Ecology Center will demonstrate how to use a compost kit, and Artistic Evolution will bring their “bike blender” to make environmentally friendly lemonade. Audience members who make personal video pledges to change aspects of their lifestyles will be entered into a raffle to win various prizes. The Hungry March Band, New York’s legendary political street brass march band will help create a festive atmosphere as they perform in the anarchic style that has become their trademark.
No Impact Man will hit theaters in New York and beyond in September. Check www.rooftopfilms.com for updates
Proof that "eco" and "entertainment" aren't mutually exclusive, "No Impact Man" may be a socially progressive, environmentally conscious film, but it goes down far easier than, say, an all-natural, fiber-enriched peanut butter sandwich without a glass of soy milk.
- Variety
Rooftop Films is a non-profit organization whose mission is to engage and inspire the diverse communities of New York City by showcasing the work of emerging filmmakers and musicians. In addition to our Summer Series – which takes place in unique outdoor venues every weekend throughout the summer – Rooftop provides grants to filmmakers, teaches media literacy and filmmaking to young people, rents low-cost equipment to artists and non-profits, and produces new independent films. At Rooftop Films, we bring the underground outdoors. For more information and updates please visit our website at www.rooftopfilms.com.
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