Remember the Future
The making of a Cannes award winning environmental film - and how it can help build a truly sustainable future.
It’s one film, it’s five minutes of your time and it asks us to ‘Remember the Future’.
The title alone makes you stop and do a double take, as if you’ve misheard. There’s an immediate tension and your curiosity is aroused.
Life has a habit of throwing up connections and bringing an idea front of mind – for the creators of Remember the Future, a five-minute film with a simple message which speaks to all of us, the film has been life-changing.
What we each take away may be different, depending on our perspectives, but the simplicity and impact of the message can’t be doubted.
Remember the Future is a digitally created, ‘hand-drawn’ animation, lasting 5 minutes and 23 seconds which simply tells the story of one tree through the ages – one tree whose roots have nurtured, flourished and now wither in the face of neglect.
Always ingenious in its portrayal, the film speaks of the fragility of our future through the eyes of one child – Jessie.
The film was co-created at the University of Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability to provide a message of hope - that sustainability is not just about science and statistics – it's also about people and behaviour.
Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti, founding director of the Institute for Sustainability and Nathalie Hinds, Director of Institute Operations, Innovation and Partnerships collaborated with Jon Weinbren, Programme Director for Surrey’s MA in Film, Animation and Digital Arts within Surrey's Department of Music and Media, to create a film which captured the ethos of the Institute.
From there the conversations evolved and the ideas took shape.
Co-written by Jon and his frequent collaborator Tom Hill, the film was brought to life by a team of artists led by animation director Izzy Barszcz. The animation was crafted using digital natural media techniques and accompanied by an original song composed and performed by Surrey alumna Alice Mills.
Jon, who produced and directed the film, said: “It all starts with a concept: a basic idea for the story and its presentation. What follows is a written treatment, then a full screenplay. This is accompanied by a storyboard, the images of which form the basis of an 'animatic', which is the first incarnation of the moving image sequence and its timing.
"However, it's an iterative process, Tom and I would brainstorm with Izzy, and we'd adjust the imagery, storyboards, animatic and script in a kind of circular process. We were continually checking what works best, and how the mood could be evoked. Meanwhile, we were reviewing all the ideas and visuals with Lorenzo and Nathalie, and getting their continual input and feedback.
"In order to cover the wide range of topics and situations across the sustainability arena we came up with the concept of a series of 'vignettes', historical and contemporary snapshots of how the world and its human population have related to their habitats and how things have changed through the ages. As subject experts Nathalie and Lorenzo could supply us with a range of topics and themes to cover.
“At the same time, the film needed some kind of structure and, most importantly, main characters to hold the story together. So in its basic form, Remember the Future is the story of a tree. We witness its wonderous transitions through 'Seasons of Change', the name of the accompanying original song. But soon enough we realise we are actually traversing through the history of civilisation, from the natural world through to early agrarian communities - nature tamed through farming, which helped early humans thrive and prosper. Then came the rise of the machines and of industry - which is where the trouble really began. The pace of change was unstoppable. And, of course, it has had its consequences.
“The idea of roots and connections was also a major theme; easily incorporated into the story of the tree of course. The Institute team were very keen for us to emphasise the notion that everything is connected in this world; roots reach far underground to affect the soil; rhizomic connections echo the way that all our actions have consequences; particularly when it comes to climate change mitigation these days.
"At a poignant point in the story, the tree's roots have withered, and its surroundings have decayed. It's at this point we re-introduce Jessie, an emblematic child, just like those who were enjoying and playing under the tree's luscious shade in the early sequences. We also are reminded of the presence of a songbird, who has been there all along, dependent on the tree for its home and its food. But as the words of the song remind us, this may well be the last songbird on the planet; it is sad, alone and frightened. Jessie beckons the songbird from the relative safety of its nest. There is an unspoken understanding that between them they must do something to mitigate against the disaster which is befalling the world.
"The songbird 'gets it' and grabs the last remaining seedpod that is clinging desperately to a nearby branch, gracefully swooping down to deliver it into Jessie's waiting hands. For a moment, Jessie is perplexed. But they realise that the seeds are the magical key to the future; and with this spawns the imagined vision of what could be a better world.
"Working together with the songbird Jessie plants the seeds and the songbird nurtures their growth by carefully delivering much needed water. And that's where we really see the magic happen. A sapling's roots start to spread underground, connecting with the main trees malnourished rhizome.
"Ideas and actions start to connect and spread. We see fossil fuels replaced with renewables, business people abandon their cars and take to their bicycles, fast food consumption is replaced with more sustainable, natural produce, overworked executives abandon their pursuit of profit at any cost and rediscover healthy creative leisure pursuits, politicians arguing for power are replaced with communities taking active control of their environments for the betterment of all. It's a magnificent and hopeful view of the future. But in the end the film asks the question, how true to life could this possibly be? And what do we need to do to make it happen?"
Crafting the story
The characters and vignettes were brought to life by a talented team of artists led by Izzy Barszcz over a period of six months, transforming written words into characters and images that would resonate with the audience.
Jon said: “Because we are well-versed in the latest production technology we tried all sorts of tricks to speed up the animation production; we played with AI-assisted imaged generation, 3D procedural character creation, rotoscoping...all sorts.
"But to get the ethereal dreamy feel we felt was needed, all this tech could only take us so far - a few concept images here and there. Ultimately it was the hard graft and artistry of the animation and art team that needed to be put into play here. No shortcuts. Just luscious moving imagery, hand created using digital drawing tablets and sophisticated 'natural media' software.
"All our ideas were developed collaboratively. Lots of discussions with Lorenzo and Nathalie. They explained the footage must not be another climate disaster film, but instead carry the important message of hope. We just have to create a vision for wellbeing or living well in the future, rather than let the world slide into global catastrophe."
“It was such a great team. It all just came together.”
From the early incarnations of the idea, the team knew that they wanted a specially composed vocal to help tell the story and compliment the animation.
Jon added: "Surrey graduate Alice Mills has been our 'go-to' composer and performer ever since her days on the Creative Music Technology programme, during which time she collaborated extensively with our animators and filmmakers. She has a heavenly voice, with a fragility and ethereality which is just perfect for the piece. Alice came up with some initial music sketches, and this was fed into the mix as we developed the script and visuals."
As they came towards the end of the animation process Jon and Alice revisited the song to match the imagery and movement that was emerging from the animation team.
Lyrics were a key ingredient, and the two of them worked closely together to come up with some poetic lines, which were close to the film's story, but not too close, adding an extra dimension.
Alice's supremely crafted melodic composition and vocal performance resulted in a song of delicate beauty: 'Seasons of Time', which is as worthy of a listen on its own as it is as the film's soundtrack.
“I love how this project opens up the conversation about climate change”
Alice said: "The initial brief of this project was a something powerful to accompany an animation so we decided it needed to be a rock ballad. I needed to create a balance between creating a song which explored the themes of sustainability of the planet, but not too on the nose because then it would become cheesy!
"We came to realise that the best way to express this was through a love song. And in the end the song is from the perspective of the planet expressing its love for us and longing for our relationship to be rebuilt. throughput the process I went through many versions of ideas and lyrics as it was quite difficult getting this right.
"The animation has a beautiful hand drawn style. It’s delicacy inspired me to take a more acoustic approach in the beginning of the song with use of acoustic guitar and strings.
"As the animation progresses the song too becomes more dramatic with use of electric guitars. Most of the music was composed after the animation, but a few changes had to be made, including adding another verse, so we could fit all the beautiful animation in, within the length of music.
"I love how this project opens the conversation about climate change and has a very powerful emotional connection to portray the message. I think it could be an amazing resource for the community and schools."
“We could portray this as one possible future..."
In storytelling terms, it's really important to create something with drama and tension. The Institute team were very keen for us to be positive in our message, but there was a danger that we would create something vacuous and even naive. The climate emergency is far from a bedtime story with a happy ending.
But there are plenty of films hitting hard on it as an unmitigated crisis. We needed to strike a balance. Our breakthrough came when we realised, we could show a positive future, but we could portray this as the one possible 'sustainable' future: the imagined future of a tree, a child and a songbird, who realise what needs to be done, and hope with all their being that this will be the future that will come to pass.
But it's a future that hasn't happened yet, and is indeed unlikely to happen, unless the seeds of change are planted everywhere, by everyone, and pretty much immediately. The film is aware of the catastrophe that is already taking place, and the suffering that the planet is already enduring. So there is an urgent call to action implied in the film, which we hope will be heard."
In September 2023 the film won the Best Environmental Film at the Cannes World Film Festival, and it’s been submitted to key festivals around the world, including Little Venice Film Festival, the London Short Film Festival and others. So far Remember the Future has picked up three festival 'wins' and six festival placements, and there are probably more to come as it traverses the circuit.
For Jon, the Cannes award and others were testament to the whole team. “You never know with these films, but we had a feeling that we had made something special. And when we screen it in front of an audience, and you see and feel the response you get the message: this is a piece to be really proud of."
"Come to think of it, when we first pitched the film, we had very high ambitions. Because doing something that was 'okay' was never really an option. We had the international film festivals very much in mind from the get-go; so we were always ready to be judged by specialist curators and filmmakers around the world, and wanted to meet the very best standards of the global animation community."
"It was always an ambition to do something really special"
Changing lives
"Having done this you realise that most of your moments in life can make a bit of a difference."
Remember the Future has been screened half a dozen times now at various events and venues. Film festival rules dictate that only a short trailer version can be distributed online, but that means it is always seen on a big screen, with great sound. And that's certainly the very best way of experiencing it. As a topical film, which stimulates people's passions, it's usually screened with an accompanying Question and Answer session with the filmmakers or Institute directors present. And the special conversations we have are very much part of the experience.
Jon added: “I’m a very different person since I worked on this, in the sense that previously I would have been casually concerned about climate change and half-fatalist about the global crisis. But now I realise that most of the moments of our lives can make a bit of a difference so we need to embed that change in behaviour and attitude in everything we do: the seed has been sown!”
“In doing research for this film, I came across some very inspiring young people, who have taken the trouble to spread the word, and take whatever action they can to enact change. And I don't just mean Greta (Thunberg). The whole team was inspired by young activist, Bella Luck's, powerful book, The Children of the Anthropocene. This, among many other works of its kind, manages to paint a picture of hope, by highlighting the great work of young people who are doing their best to right the wrongs of a previous generations. Hopefully these bright, energetic and astute young people will be a big part of saving the planet, as long as the rest of us follow their example. The alternative is unthinkable."
"These days I'm busy running our new MA in Film, Animation and Digital Arts or FADA for short. The word 'fada' means fairy in Portuguese, which gives a clue to the programme's mission: to enable its students to create a little bit of magic, using sound and vision to inspire and elucidate.
"To tell stories on screen that help make the world a better place. We have a wonderful diverse collection of students on its first year, from all around the world. They are a mix of animators, filmmakers and digital artists, destined to create some wonderful works.
"Meanwhile, our research initiative, C-CATS, continues to explore new ways of leveraging emerging moving image techniques and technologies to enable the greatest stories to be experienced from the most interesting and passionate people we can find.
Combining this mission with some incredible new film and animation production tools, which hopefully will make this type of endeavour more accessible to those who voices have rarely been heard until now.
Keep watching this space to see what we come up with!
And for anyone that would like to arrange a public screening of Remember the Future, please get in touch with either Nathalie or Jon.
A true beacon of hope
Ideas inspire people to believe in a better world, which in turn inspire us to make changes and create a better society.
Remember the Future is one small part of making people re-see the world and what they can do to make a difference.
"Remember the Future shows us that complex messages can be conveyed in a poetic and inspiring way. This is the only approach that can help us get the message across a wide variety of audiences. In particular, it is a fruitful way to inspire younger generations to take action and make those of my generation feel brutally responsible for their inaction”.
Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti, Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainability at University of Surrey
"The film not only creates a sense of urgency but is a true beacon of hope. It has been recognised by our partners as a creative asset, ideal to provide context and open up new sustainability conversations, for example, what does it mean to live better, more sustainable lives? Suitable to all types of audiences it will be used in different settings, such as schools, science centres and corporate organisations. Also, we are delighted that our local authority wishes to use the material as part of a new sustainability training course.”
Nathalie Hinds, Director Operations, Innovation and Partnerships at the Institute for Sustainability
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