Talk about some top headliners!
If you’ve already finished watching David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet on Netflix, well, you can still get your fix of the broadcaster. The legendary TV naturalist will be speaking at Bristol’s Wildscreen Festival next week. But that’s not all. Sir David will be also be joined by environmental activist, Greta Thunberg!
Both of them have spread the word about the impacts of climate change and now they are coming together for the first time to discuss the climate emergency together at the Bristol event. The man who broke the record for getting over 1 million Instagram followers the quickest and the Swedish campaigner have never appeared on the same platform before, but will come together for a ‘detailed conversation’ about the environmental crisis. Although, they are separated by 77 years in age, Sir David and Greta are united by a shared passion to protect the natural world.
Wildscreen Festival showcases the best wildlife documentary and film-making in the world as well as holding debates and discussions. The city of Bristol is the perfect location for this event, since it is the global centre of the wildlife and nature film-making industry. Many of the programmes made by 94-year-old Sir David, were produced by teams at the BBC’s Natural History Unit in Bristol, and the presenter is a patron of the Wildscreen Festival itself.
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However, the festival this year, which runs from 19-23 October, will be going virtual, with organisers continuing to stage screenings, debates and discussions, but virtually. Fortunately, this means ticket capacity is unlimited so everyone can get the chance to see and listen to Sir David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg.
Unfortunately, Greta was unable to make the trip to Bristol earlier this year, when she took part in a 20,000-strong School Strike for Climate march through the streets of Bristol city centre in February. That was the last major school strike action before the coronavirus pandemic, and organisers of the protests in Bristol recently decided not to resume them to continue to limit the spread of the virus.
Alastair Fothergill, the co-director of David Attenborough, a Life on our Planet, said it would be a ‘unique chance’ to see the two of them together discussing the climate emergency.
“This is the very first time that Sir David and Greta have had the chance for a detailed conversation and it certainly does not disappoint,” he said.
The co-director also added that the pair will discuss the significance of Wildscreen as a festival as well as their opinions of where we are now and where we need to be.
This autumn has become a time for environmental films since Greta Thunberg’s film, I Am Greta, is due to be released on Hulu in the UK on 16 October. The film makes an appeal to act now to stop climate change before it’s too late.
The festival begins on Monday 19 October and runs all week until October 23.