Anthropocene: The Human Epoch

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch is the third collaboration from Nicholas de Pencier, Edward Burtynsky and Jennifer Baichwal and the last in a trilogy of films that includes Manufactured Landscapes (2006) and Watermark (2013). This documentary follows the research of an international body of scientists, the Anthropocene Working Group who, after nearly 10 years of research, are arguing that the evidence shows the Holocene Epoch — which started 11,700 years ago as the glaciers of the last ice age receded — gave way to the Anthropocene Epoch in the mid-twentieth century. Their argument is that humans have become the single most defining force on the planet and that the evidence for this is overwhelming. Terraforming of the earth through mining, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture; the proliferation of dams and diverting of waterways; CO2 and acidification of oceans due to climate change; the pervasive presence around the globe of plastics, concrete, and other technofossils; unprecedented rates of deforestation and extinction: these human incursions, they argue, are so massive in scope that they have already entered, and will endure in, geological time

Shooting for Anthropocene lasted 3 years, 2 months and 22 days at 43 locations in 20 countries on 6 continents, resulting in 202 hours and 57 minutes of material that took 10 months of editing to complete.

Watch Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky talk about the making of Anthropocene.

Also see: Northernstars reviews Anthropocene: The Human Epoch.

Trailer courtesy of Mongrel Media.