Youth Unstoppable

Slater Jewell-Kemker (2018, U.S., 91 min.)

The future is at risk. What are you going to do? There is a burgeoning movement of young people globally, who are upset and frustrated with how those in power are risking their future.This Global Youth Climate Movement has been emerging for years: young adults challenging the status quo of government, business, and culture, while recognizing climate change’s impacts will not be distributed equally or fairly. They also recognize these impacts are occurring in their lifetimes–not 50 years from now; not 10 years; but now. They are protesting. They are getting involved. And–from leaders like Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old Swedish activist who inspired the global Sunrise Movement, to the youths in the Juliana v. The United States  lawsuit who were suing the federal government for allowing climate change to happen–they are taking action.

Slater Jewell-Kemker’s documentary Youth Unstoppable shares one such autobiographical journey through this movement. Filmed over 13 years starting at age 14, we see her navigate her role at global climate conferences as both an official delegate, journalist, and protestor. Along the way, we see her grapple with not being taken seriously, feeling hopeless, and seeing global climate discussions repeatedly crumble. But we also see her make friends and allies from all over the world–discovering she is not alone in her profound moral obligation to act and in her resilient faith in the possibility of saving the future. The struggle is far from over, and not without significant obstacles, but together the world’s youth may be unstoppable at overcoming the limits to solving climate change. (Filmmaker joined us for an introduction to the film)