Sundance Doc ‘To The End’ Tells A Bleak Yet Empowering Story About Climate Change

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallies hundreds of young climate activists in Lafayette Square on the north side of the White House to demand that U.S. President Joe Biden work to make the Green New Deal law on June 28, 2021. “ not a coincidence that these four leaders and many young leaders in the climate justice movement are women of color.” - Rachel Lears, documentary filmmaker “I was very interested in what it was going to look like, not only for Ocasio-Cortez to enter Congress and confront the realities of whatever she was going to find there in the institutions of our government,” Lears explained. “But once the Green New Deal started exploding, it also became clear that these other young women who are in positions of leadership in this movement were also going to be facing a similar challenge around leadership and power, and just what is it like to have one foot in the door of the halls of power, but not to have enough power to fully shape your own agenda.” In addition, as Lears pointed out, it’s “not a coincidence that these four leaders and many young leaders in the climate justice movement are women of color.” “Young people, women and people of color are, across the world, the most affected by the climate crisis at the front lines,” she said. And that’s starting to change, obviously, but it’s incredibly important to recognize the work that these people are doing and to acknowledge their central role in this.” Lears’ prior film “Knock Down the House” was similarly noteworthy in how, unlike many campaign documentaries, its subjects were women and women of color. It’s something that clearly drives the protagonists in “To the End.” “That sort of visceral distaste for politics, I think it’s connected to the cynicism that so many people feel when they watch the gridlock and just the way that so many people in Congress will prioritize their donors or corporate interests above what the majority of working people in this country actually want to see,” Lears said.