Educational Media Reviews Online

Feeling the Apocalypse is a short film that discusses an aspect of environmentalism, sustainability, and activism that is not often discussed: mental health. The discussion is through the lens of an interview with psychotherapist Anderson Todd. Director Chen Sing Yap effectively uses a mix of hand drawn stop-motion animation and footage from recent climate events to drive their narrative.

Yap’s choice of using hand drawn stop-motion animation to illustrate what is being said in Todd’s interview is a particularly effective means of softening the darker tone of what is being said. The drawings are reminiscent of a child’s coloring book: whimsical, hopeful, simple. The use of animations as a means of marring that innocence and ignorance is brutal. Climate change, and its associated anxiety, is not a comfortable topic and the animations support that theme. This practice reaches its peak in the falling action: reassurance and community. There is a final juxtaposition using drawings of a dystopian past or future and photographs that represented humanity’s community in the face of crises. However, Todd’s interview sends a convoluted message due to its questionable delivery, often taking a defeatist stance to climate change, often undermining large scale efforts to support his true message: the importance of small-scale community in both environmentalism and in grief.

Feeling the Apocalypse is only recommended for courses where the instructor can guide discussions as the messaging is bleak and may trigger some students.

Awards:
Best Student Film, American Conservation Film Festival 2023; Best Cinematography, Climate Future Film Festival 2023

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