Watch ‘Against the Tide: A Journey for Climate Hope’
To celebrate World Oceans Day, Peace Boat has posted online for the first time the documentary that was filmed in 2017 during the Ocean and Climate Youth Ambassador Programme onboard its 95th Global Voyage. The film portrays the voyage of seven young leaders from small island states who joined Peace Boat to engage in capacity building and bring their message to citizens and government representatives across the world. You can watch the film here.
Against the Tide was directed by the Colombian filmmaker Luis Barreto and was screened for the first time at the November 2017 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany. “The experience of producing this short film was very inspiring for all of us involved in the project. The ambassadors not only brought their enthusiasm and optimism to the project, they also shared solutions and inspired others to take simple actions at the individual level in order to make a difference,” says Barreto.
In recent months, the film has been screened in different festivals in Slovakia, India, and Australia. The film was also selected for the Kids First! Film Festival in the US. Screenings of the film are taking place in more than 50 venues that partner with this event. According to the Kids First Jurors, Peace Boat’s documentary “is crucial for Millennials, because they have the power to change the outcome of our planet. Young adults will enjoy seeing their peers traveling around the world and speaking out.” The film has been also screened in the Seychelles and Micronesia by some of the youth who took part in the programme.
The second edition of the Ocean and Climate Youth Ambassador Programme will start on 26 June 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden. This time, youth from Fiji, Palau, Mauritius, Singapore, Dominica, and Barbados will join Peace Boat’s vessel. They will connect with civil society organizations and government agencies in the ports they visit, including in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Canada and the United States. Their voyage will end as Peace Boat docks in New York during the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development in July 2018, where the youth ambassadors will report on their efforts to both the United Nations community and the broader public.