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Americans generally like to hear good news. They like to believe that a new president will right old wrongs, that clean energy will replace dirty oil and that fresh thinking will set the economy straight. American pundits tend to restrain their pessimism and hope for the best. But is anyone prepared for the worst?
Meet Michael Ruppert, a different kind of American. A former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter, he predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter, From the Wilderness, at a time when most Wall Street and Washington analysts were still in denial. Director Chris Smith has shown an affinity for outsiders in films like American Movie and The Yes Men. In Collapse, he departs stylistically from his past documentaries by interviewing Ruppert in a format that recalls the work of Errol Morris and Spalding Gray.
Sitting in a room that looks like a bunker, Ruppert recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out the crises he sees ahead. He draws upon the same news reports and data available to any Internet user, but he applies a unique interpretation. He is especially passionate about the issue of “peak oil,” the concern raised by scientists since the seventies that the world will eventually run out of fossil fuel. While other experts debate this issue in measured tones, Ruppert doesn't hold back at sounding an alarm, portraying an apocalyptic future. Listening to his rapid flow of opinions, the viewer is likely to question some of the rhetoric as paranoid or deluded, and to sway back and forth on what to make of the extremism. Smith lets viewers form their own judgments.
Collapse also serves as a portrait of a loner. Over the years, Ruppert has stood up for what he believes in despite fierce opposition. He candidly describes the sacrifices and motivators in his life. While other observers analyze details of the economic crisis, Ruppert views it as symptomatic of nothing less than the collapse of industrial civilization itself. — Thom Powers TIFF 2009
Filmmaker Chris Smith studied film at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His first documentary, American Movie (99), caused a sensation at the 1999 TIFF ™1¡Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the Sundance Film Festival the same year. He has also directed the features American Job (95) and The Pool (07) and the documentaries Home Movie (01), The Yes Men (03) and Collapse (09).
Collapse is being released in Canada by KINOSMITH INC., an independent Canadian film distribution & marketing company founded in February 2007 by distribution veteran Robin Smith. More information about KINOSMITH.
"Michael Moore may have come into this year’s Toronto International Film Festival with the most high-profile documentary about the current economic crisis, but it’s the less well-known non-fiction filmmaker Chris Smith who brought the best film on the subject to town. "— Metro Canada
"Mesmerizing. There are many layers to the man and the movie, and I for one left the theater shaken.' — Scott Tobias, The Onion
"A pulverizing film. Jolted and melted me down like no documentary has in a long, long while." — Jeffery Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere
Screeners Available
Director Chris Smith is available for Advance phoners
To book an interview with Chris Smith, for review copy and for more information contact:
Nancy Yu, Virgina Kelly, V Kelly & Associates, 416-466-9799, info@vkpr.ca
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www.vkpr.ca/press.html
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