Related Blog Posts
Members of the Future Council hold council in a forest. Their youth-led environmental leadership and collective responsibility for the future reflects ReFrame Film Festival’s commitment to community-rooted storytelling that connects young voices, climate action, and hopeful pathways for change. (Still from Future Council, 2024, courtesy of the production)
By ReFrame Film Festival staff
ReFrame Film Festival is a local, long-running event grounded in Nogojiwanong / Peterborough. As the festival approaches its 25th anniversary, it continues to be shaped by a team with deep roots in this community.
All current ReFrame staff members grew up in this area, many of them rurally, and were taught from a young age to see and respect the relationship between themselves and their environment. This lived experience informs Team ReFrame’s connections to this place, and shapes the festival’s programming today.
Through their work, the ReFrame team seeks to foster meaningful connections between the lands and waters of this region, the next generation, and film programming which highlights environmental responsibility and tangible change in a world gripped by the global climate crisis.
A towering cloud-like creature looms over the Future Council bus and the surrounding landscape. The scale of the climate crisis can be overwhelming but the participants in this powerful film persevere for the sake of the planet and their own futures. ReFrame Film Festival presents Future Council at Showplace Performance Centre Jan. 31 at 12:30 p.m. (Still from Future Council, 2024, courtesy of the production)
ReFrame is one community member within a broader network of local organizations that care for and help shape this place. They view their responsibility to environmental justice as central to the festival’s purpose, not separate from it. This commitment is evident in ReFrame’s programming, which highlights the important and impactful work being done locally and globally to combat the climate crisis. By bringing these stories to the community, the festival creates space for learning, reflection, and action, rooted in shared responsibility.
Among this year’s diverse program of over 40 films is one film that approaches environmental justice through a uniquely youth-centred lens. Award-winning filmmaker Damon Gameau’s Future Council balances the urgent need for climate action with imaginative, solutions-oriented thinking while amplifying the voices of those with the most at stake.
Screening at Showplace Performance Centre Jan. 31 at 12:30 p.m., Future Council follows a group of young activists as they travel across Europe on a bus powered by biofuel. Along the way, the “Future Council” is formed to challenge companies to think differently, take responsibility, and act with the future in mind.
This powerful film is not to be missed and will inspire audiences of all ages. But, it doesn’t end when the credits roll.
Members of the Future Council and their biofuel-powered bus. Their powerful journey shows how a generation can take responsibility, offer proactive solutions, and work to shape a truly sustainable future. (Still from Future Council, 2024, courtesy of the production)
With every ReFrame film, there is a hope that audiences will engage beyond the experience of the screening and take action for social and environmental change on a local, national, or international level. In this spirit, Future Council offers a unique invitation: “Any young person aged 9 to 16, anywhere in the world, can join the Future Council.”
While the Future Council welcomes parents, teachers, business leaders, and other supporters, it is fundamentally a child-led organization. The Future Council is “here to design our future and we’re doing it with creativity, courage, and lots of fun.”
Working towards a sustainable future means centring on the voices of those who will inherit that work. Locally, nationally, and globally, their perspectives are vital. Taking action now helps ensure that future generations grow, learn, are inspired, and take action in turn.
This film is an invitation for all young people to join in the conversation, both at ReFrame and on the global stage. Future Council is also an invitation to listen. As new generations grow up in this community, creating spaces for their voices and leadership strengthens the community as a whole. The work of protecting the planet requires collective care and collaboration, and ReFrame is an important place for coming together.
Join the screening to witness this inspiring group in action, and be part of the movement that’s making change to protect the planet.
Featured above is the trailer for Future Council, presented as part of the ReFrame Film Festival.
GreenUP is a proud sponsor of ReFrame’s social and environmental justice documentary festival, which returns in a hybrid format in downtown Nogojiwanong / Peterborough from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, and online Feb. 3 to 8. In-person, hybrid, and virtual festival passes, as well as individual tickets for both in-person and virtual screenings, are available now. Individual in-person tickets will also be available at festival venues on a rush basis 15 minutes in advance of each scheduled screening between Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. Learn more and purchase passes and tickets today at reframefilmfestival.ca/
Learn more about Future Council here at https://futurecouncil.global/.