Material of the Future
| Material of the Future | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Vern Moen |
| Written by |
Vern Moen Aaron Ganser |
| Narrated by | Alec Baldwin |
| Music by | Richard Swift |
Release dates |
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Running time | 41 minutes |
| Country | United States |
Material of the Future is an independent documentary film that explores humanity's current relationship with plastic, both its benefits and risks to the environment, science, culture, and human health. Directed by Vern Moen, member of the Plastiki voyage, the film had its premiere at the Friday Harbor Film Festival on November 7, 2014.[1] Originally, the film premiered in 2012 as part of the film Plastiki and the Material of the Future[2] but was subsequently separated into its own film.
Synopsis
Structured as vignetted scenes, the film, narrated by Alec Baldwin, follows no single storyline, but rather assembles a worldwide view from a variety of perspectives considering what the true value of plastic is. Covered topics include re-usable plastics, plastic pollution, plastic industry, controversies of plastic recycling, bioplastics, and plastics in human health. The film includes footage from Chinese recycling facilities, the world's largest plastics convention, the Los Angeles bag ban, heart replacement surgery, the Plasticarium in Brussels, and is interspersed with interviews from scientists, authors, artists, and environmentalists.[3]
The film is scored by Richard Swift with additional music from Baths and a previously unreleased track from Animal Collective.
Interviewees
- Dixie Longate - #1 Tupperware sales person in U.S.
- Susan Freinkel - author, "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story"
- Stephen Joseph - Plastic Bag Coalition
- Steve Russell - American Chemistry Council, VP of Plastics
- Manuel Maqueda - Plastic Pollution Coalition
- Dr. Frederick Vom Saal - Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri
- Dr. George Bittner - Plastipure, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
- Dr. Theo Colburn - Founder and President Emeritus of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange
- Greg Pronko - Glissade Snowboards
- Richard and Judith Selby Lang - Plastic artists, activists
- Leah Gomez - plastic heart builder for SynCardia
- Mike O'Reilly - Glissade Snowboards
- Mike Usey - CEO of PlastiPure
- Philippe Decelle - Plasticarium curator
- Robert Bateman - Roplast Industries president
- Stuart Yaniger - PlastiPure
- Sylvia Earle - Marine biologist, explorer, author
- Ulrich Reifenhäuser - Reifenhäuser Group