Why we love 'Tomorrow'
It’s a great road movie presenting initiatives that have proven themselves in ten countries around the world: concrete examples of solutions to environmental and social challenges of our times in agriculture, energy, economy, education and governance. As Gandhi once (surely) said, “Leading by example is not the best way to convince people, it’s the only one”.
It’s a funny and optimistic movie but that does not avoid presenting the big challenges we are facing. It starts by quoting an article from the Nature Journal in which more than 20 scientists explain that part of humanity will disappear before 2100 from human causes provoking a general collapse of ecosystems.
That awareness is transformed into a positive energy making Cyril and Mélanie start a journey to seek for advice on how to move forward. The first stop in their international trip is a humble English town called Totnes, where they met various inspiring people…
You will surely ask yourself after seeing this film poster who between Totnes’ £21 note and Rob is now the most famous in France, Switzerland and Belgium…
'Tomorrow' in Belgium
The success of the movie in Belgium is impressive. More than 100,000 persons have already seen it (compared to our national population of 10 million, it’s an amazing score), which makes it more successful than the Al Gore documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth‘!
While at the start, only progressive newspapers covered the release of the movie, most of the mainstream journals now have published articles trying to explain this mass success. In turn, many citizens hearing echos from friends and media have gone to see the movie, which is now released in Belgium’s biggest cinema chain.
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In Brussels and Wallonia, many Transition initiatives co-organized local projections as well as follow-up events usually named “After Tomorrow” (‘Apres Demain’).
Here are some reactions to the movie:
I just got out of the movie and I’m excited! Full of ideas, it’s all very encouraging… You’ll see!!! No spoiler here… but I wanted to share with you this feeling of joy and the will to do more that invades me! Juanita from Ath en Transition
Two full movie theatres for a documentary!!! This mainly means that people really want to see change happen. Of the 600 spectators, 200 completed a small “Tomorrow, what about me” sheet, inviting them to reflect on a concrete action to participate in the world of tomorrow. There was a great atmosphere after the film, the bar full of local beers was emptied on the first evening. We created a short movie and folder presenting the actions of our local initiatives, which were impressively in line with the film content. The Mayor was present and congratulated us by mail with enthusiasm. He said he was delighted to see all these initiatives flourish in his town! Valentine from “Gembloux Optimiste”
Since the film was already distributed in our town theaters, our local initiative Ixelles en Transition in Brussels didn’t organize a screening. However, we organized an “after-tomorrow” event. Our idea was to start conversations, presenting projects already underway in our initiative and help new projects to take shape. We succeeded: after the meeting, new persons are launching their idea and communicating with their contact or even organizing an action themselves ! In short, the movie provides a great convergence of energy that we hope will last. Mayliss from Ixelles in Transition
Besides the excitement, what impact has the movie had?