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THE MAGNITUDE OF ALL THINGS

By Jennifer ABBOTT

Documentary - Completed 2020

Filmmaker Jennifer Abbott explores the emotional and psychological dimensions of the climate crisis and the relationship between grief and hope in times of personal and planetary change.

- Year of production
- 2020
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- CANADA, AUSTRALIA, ECUADOR, UNITED KINGDOM, SWEDEN
- Languages
- ENGLISH, SPANISH
- Budget
- 1 - 3 M$
- Duration
- 85 mn
- Director(s)
- Jennifer ABBOTT
- Producer(s)
- Andrew WILLIAMSON (CEDAR ISLAND FILMS INC.), Henrik MEYER (CEDAR ISLAND FILMS INC.), Shirley VERCRUYSSE (NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA / OFFICE NATIONAL DU FILM DU CANADA)
- Synopsis
- The Magnitude of All Things is a cinematic exploration of the emotional and psychological dimensions of climate change. It weaves together two stories about grief and hope in times of personal and planetary change. The first is the series of events between the cancer diagnosis and death of the filmmaker's sister Saille. The second is a collection of testimonials about our emotional and psychological responses to the climate crisis. What do these two stories have in common? The answer, surprisingly, is everything.
  
  Our journey takes us around the world to the spectacular beauty and devastating loss on the planet’s climate frontlines. Shooting intimate steadicam 4K, underwater and drone footage, we embed with the Sapara nation fighting oil expansion in the imperilled Amazon Rainforest, visit monsoon-drenched Queensland and the dying Great Barrier Reef, spend time with the Inuit in Nunatsiavut’s melting north, visit Tasmania during a devastating wild fire as well as the Beaver Lake Cree whose territory has been decimated by oil sands. Climate scientists who have warned us about the existential threat of climate change for decades are rarely asked how they feel, but that’s the question we’ve posed top IPCC members. We spend a day with Greta Thunberg in Stockholm at her now famous school strike and follow members of Extinction Rebellion London as they successfully shut down that giant metropolis with acts of civil disobedience modeled after Martin Luther King and Gandhi. We speak with the former president of Kiribati, His Excellency Anote Tong, whose island nation will be underwater by the turn of the century, the “godfather of coral” Charlie Veron and Aboriginal traditional custodian “Uncle Kevin” Taggart who once believed climate change was a hoax but can no longer deny its existence.
  
  All speak candidly about their feelings around climate change, regrets they may have from the past, dreams for the future and where they find the strength, resilience and hope to work for change. The inspiring story of the filmmaker’s sister is reenacted in Ontario’s Georgian Bay archipelago, providing remarkable entry points to the parallel themes of facing our deepest fears and sorrows and cultivating humanity’s best in times of crisis.
  
  While grief is our starting point, it’s not the end. The Magnitude of All Things seeks to celebrate life and its cohort death, the two inextricably bound in ways we too frequently deny. It’s about climate change and what makes us human and how to find the courage to see, understand and confront arguably the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. Part reportage, part memoir and part ghost story, The Magnitude of All Things is a journey into sisterly love, love of earth and finding hope amidst grief and devastating loss. It’s our great wish that it also speaks to those struggling to find meaning in our troubled, fascinating and changing world.
- Partners & financing
- National Film Board of Canada
  TELUS Fund
  Telefilm Canada
- Production schedule
- Completed by July 1, 2020
- Beginning of shooting
- Apr 02, 2018
- End of shooting
- Nov 30, 2019