Toronto (Canada) (AFP)
The cinema "can and must" raise awareness of the population to the fight against climate change, pleaded Wednesday at the Toronto Film Festival (Tiff) the Spanish actor Javier Bardem, came to present in world premiere his documentary "Sanctuary" which follows him in Antarctica with the NGO Greenpeace.
Filmed last year, this film follows Bardem and his brother Carlos as they accompany a mission in the white continent of the environmental organization that militates that this region is sanctuary and preserved from all human activity.
The Antarctic Expedition even led the 2008 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in a mini submarine, with a capacity of two people, to take samples from the ocean floor to demonstrate the ravages of global warming. of the planet and intensive fishing.
"Fortunately I'm not claustrophobic ... it was like being in a Kinder egg!", He told AFP in Toronto.
A fierce defender of the environment, he called three weeks ago in New York, in a vibrant plea at the United Nations headquarters, the signing of an international treaty to protect the world's oceans.
"Our oceans are breaking and we are all partly responsible," he told the UN forum, calling on the international organization to act "here and now".
But, he insisted at the Canadian festival, Hollywood "also has the potential to reach millions of people" to accelerate the transition to a more environmentally friendly world.
Recently, in discussions with Disney for a remake of the "Little Mermaid", in which he played King Triton, Javier Bardem insisted on the director Rob Marshall to add an ecologist message to the film, he said to AFP.
"You have to take advantage of this wonderful and beautiful story by (Hans Christian) Andersen to incorporate ocean pollution" into the plot, Bardem said.
"We can reach millions and millions of young people ... that's what this kind of film could and should do," he said.
Rob Marshall was "very open" to this suggestion, according to Javier Bardem, although convincing the American entertainment giant who produces the film is another matter: "It's a big machine, it's not the author (...) It's Disney ".
© 2019 AFP