Duty of Care: The Climate Trials 2022
Distributed by The Video Project, 145 - 9th St., Suite 230, San Francisco, CA 94103; 800-475-2638
Produced by Sarah Tak and Nic Balthazar
Directed by Nic Balthazar
Streaming, 56 mins
College - General Adult
Activism; Climatic changes; Law
Date Entered: 04/24/2023
Reviewed by Kristan Majors, Woodruff Library, Emory UniversityAn excellent and timely documentary about groundbreaking climate litigation taking place around the world. This is a must-see documentary for those studying environmental law and climate policy. Filmed between 2019-2021, the filmmakers document climate lawsuits in the Netherlands and related cases in France, Germany, Belgium, and the U.S. Lawyers, climate activists, and policy experts are interviewed. Also, relevant news footage and data are included to help explain the complex issues.
While likely best for environmental law and policy courses, this film is accessible to college and general audiences with an interest in climate change issues. Young adults are interviewed regularly in the film and are leaders in some of the lawsuits, so this is an inspiring film to show to college-aged environmental clubs too. The film is best if viewed in its entirety but if time is an issue the filmmakers divide the story into 3 parts each lasting between 15-20 minutes: Urgenda; The Shell Case (starts at 17 minutes); Ripple effect (starts at 35 minutes).
Complimentary documentaries to show with this documentary are Inconvenient Truth and Youth v Gov.
Awards: DocVille, Audience Award; Braunschweig International Film Festival, Green Horizons Award; Matsalu Nature Film Festival, Estonian Fund for Nature Special Prize
Published and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Anyone can use these reviews, so long as they comply with the terms of the license.