Kent Film Club - Liù Batchelor (Thursday August 1st 2024)
This week Chris Deacy is joined in the studio by Liù Batchelor to discuss the films; Before The Flood, Biggest Little Farm, Don't Look Up, and Requiem For A Dream.
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TVTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Film Club, I'm Chris DC and each week I'll be joined by a guest
00:18from Kent to dive deep into the impact certain films have had on their life.
00:23Each guest will reflect on the films which have meant the most to them over the years
00:27and every week there will be a Kent Film Trivia where we quiz you at home about a film that
00:32has a connection to the county.
00:34And now let me introduce you to my guest for this week.
00:38She is a presenter, video coach and former TEDx curator.
00:42She is Liu Batchelor.
00:44Hello.
00:45Great to have you on the programme Liu.
00:46Thank you for having me.
00:47Wonderful.
00:48Now I don't know your films in advance but I can see from the screen that your first
00:51choice is Before the Flood.
00:53Yes it is.
00:54So with these I specifically chose films that were maybe a little bit challenging.
00:58They're all kind of eco-documentaries because I'm really fascinated in this idea of how
01:03we can inspire change and how we can engage people with really important topics but sometimes
01:09some quite challenging topics and how we can use film, storytelling, in some cases entertainment
01:16to get those messages across.
01:17So is this more of a documentary based film?
01:20Yes.
01:21So this one is a documentary.
01:23It's a slightly older one from 2016.
01:26You know you've got Leonardo DiCaprio who is leading this but I find it quite an interesting
01:30one because it's obviously him himself as someone who I believe is like the UN ambassador
01:35or spokesperson and he takes us on this journey of his discovery and asking questions and
01:41going to talk to like some big people and some big leaders.
01:44So he goes and speaks to Barack Obama and people like that to really find out the ins
01:49and outs of climate change, how it's affecting people.
01:53And to be honest it's a hard watch.
01:54A lot of it I was like it's big scary stuff that can be quite overwhelming if it's the
02:00first time you're kind of engaging with it and even if you're not it can be quite, yeah.
02:06Because I remember seeing him at the Oscars with Al Gore and of course they were talking
02:11about the climate change work that Al Gore, particularly since his time as vice president
02:16is known for.
02:18So this was a 2016 documentary.
02:21So in what capacity have you used this?
02:24Is this something that you use for educational purposes?
02:26Is it campaigning, environmental, I know it's something that's very important to you.
02:30Yeah so I mean I watched it very much initially seeing it as an audience member and as a member
02:36of the public to kind of look at how do we engage people.
02:40It's not something I don't kind of go out and I wouldn't kind of class myself as an
02:43activist or a campaigner in any sense but a lot of my work really is helping people
02:48like how do we get important messages out.
02:50And so really watching this as an example of okay, it's got the big star, we ticked
02:54that box, it's got the big interviews but like I said it can be quite tricky and I'd
02:59say it's very important for getting those important messages and if you watch like the
03:04YouTube version for example you can see in all the comments people responding and saying
03:08oh I have to watch this for my school and I think it's in America but people using it
03:13as an educational piece of this is what is going on because it looks at lots of the different
03:18elements and the impacts and the consequences.
03:22So it's used very much as an educational piece but it's also like yeah does it make people
03:28change their behaviour is sometimes the big question.
03:31And I remember that debate coming up over a global warming which was narrated by Al Gore
03:35a decade before this was made and so do you find that when you're reading those comments
03:40on YouTube and people presumably quite polarised comments in many cases, do you kind of feel
03:45that people are willing to learn to change, are people sticking their face in the mud
03:53and just saying no I don't want to engage with this or do you sort of get the sense
03:56that people will watch this and say yeah it's made me change the way I apprehend the environment?
04:02Yeah I mean I think you know firstly always what you see on the comments are always going
04:06to be polarised aren't they so you've got those people at the extreme ends going no
04:09this is a load of rubbish versus people going this is so important but I think films like
04:14this can be it's the majority of the people in between who have gone oh geez okay this
04:20is quite important and I'm starting to see how some of these things are showing up in
04:24my life in the news in the media so I think yeah I think people are taking it on board
04:30I think sometimes where it's tricky though and I kind of got a sense of this is knowing
04:34what to do as a result.
04:36A lot of this film and maybe where it's a slightly early it's not that early in the
04:41grand scheme of how long we've known about climate change but for some people's awareness
04:45it's slightly earlier and therefore it's more about raising the alarm making people go we
04:51need to look at this and we need to do something but I think now and you know since 2016 it's
04:56more people need to be looking at what are the actions and the things we can do which
05:01aren't necessarily I touched on in elements in here but it's more about the alarm rather
05:07than the action and the positive side of this is what we can do.
05:12And have you witnessed that change in other words through this documentary specifically
05:16is there anything concrete that has happened in terms of the awareness in terms of what
05:20people are talking about I mean having someone like Leonardo DiCaprio narrating this obviously
05:24is bound to reach an audience that perhaps wouldn't have done otherwise.
05:28Yeah I think people are talking about stuff more and are more aware I think the challenge
05:33sometimes is whether people are willing to put their head above the parapet and maybe
05:38talk to other people about it so you know it's very easy to have your groups that you're
05:43preaching to the converted and you know the sort of people who might discuss this or promote
05:48it or encourage it are people maybe who are already taking action or maybe have a bit
05:53more of that kind of fight of kind of you know maybe on the activist kind of side but
05:58I know that that turns a lot of people off and I certainly it's not my approach but I
06:03think it's if it can create those conversations between people to start to say oh yeah this
06:09is going on and you know for example running up to the election having conversations with
06:13family and not trying to preach or convince anyone but being able to just talk about the
06:19issues so that people are able to make their own choice because that's the only slight
06:23thing with some of the environmental documentaries is they can be right we need to change and
06:27they're all doom and gloom and that's that's not necessarily entertaining and that doesn't
06:30make people change it just makes them a bit scared okay brilliant well it's time now to
06:33move on to your second chosen film Liu and it's The Biggest Little Farm so this was actually
06:41created so that it's a couple and the woman is it has always wanted to have a farm she's
06:48in cooking and then because they get a dog and it needs to be out in the open they decide
06:53to kind of get get this farm and the the guy the the husband the partner is a filmmaker
06:58so this is a really beautiful film in how it's shot and what I really liked about this
07:03one was you really go on that journey with them and you feel invested because it's about
07:08their struggles of how they create this regenerative farm and like I said beautifully shot so it
07:13comes at it from a completely different angle it's not about alarming and all this kind
07:17of thing although it does raise awareness of the importance of nutrients microbes all
07:22these kind of things biodiversity within our soil but told from their first-hand view
07:27of how they are trying to make it a reality in this desolate kind of farm that they buy
07:32up out in the middle of the in the middle of nowhere in America because there's obviously
07:36a connection with with your first choice but do you think in this case you've hit the nail
07:40on the head there that the different ways in which a film can raise awareness the different
07:46approaches I mean documentaries have their role but do you sort of feel that this was
07:50able to reach a different sort of audience to the first film obviously it's a different
07:54entity and as you say obviously this is this is American but how do you feel this related
08:00to people in in Kent for example this this is much more like and there's actually lots
08:04of regenerative agriculture permaculture going on in Kent so I know a lot of people who have
08:10watched not necessarily this film specifically but films like this and have been inspired
08:15and it's much more practical the first film was big things and talking to you know the
08:20president of the US versus this is okay this is a couple who have done it on their little
08:25farm they've got a big farm but you can do stuff like this you know in your garden and
08:28I know organizations who are doing things locally trying to bring regenerative agriculture
08:34back to Kent and how we farm to make sure that it's more sustainable the food we we
08:38eat is more diverse and ultimately more nutritious I mean who's noticed like tomatoes not actually
08:43tasting like tomatoes and and this sort of film brings up some of those those ideas and
08:49why it's a problem and do you feel that people are really talking about this in that sense
08:52I mean it's not one that I've seen I obviously must see it but do you find that this has
09:00changed people's awareness so similar to the question I asked you about the first documentary
09:03but is this something that sort of has made people stop think reflect in a way that they
09:09weren't doing 10 20 years ago I'd say yes yeah they you know particularly people who
09:14work in in this space absolutely because it's it's very actionable for them but I definitely
09:19have noticed a shift in more people being interested in gardening for example yes I
09:23think it's much more accessible in that sense and food and where our food comes from is
09:29something when we're talking about environmental issues the general public can be much more
09:33connected with because it is the food we eat but also we have an opportunity to go and
09:38see it and it's more hands-on versus carbon big things like that require kind of more
09:43government government intervention whereas some stuff like this you can do things and
09:47you can go to local gardening clubs you can volunteer and get stuck in and there's a social
09:53element to it as well and a well-being element and there's a wonderful sort of counterpart
09:57and counterpoint because the first documentary was as you say Leonardo DiCaprio talking to
10:01world leaders but here it may be dealing with similar sorts of questions but on a much more
10:05micro level and that and I can imagine actually that's that's a nice complement to each other
10:10yes definitely it's it's specific to a particular area and element of of action that we can be
10:18taking and yeah this is them going this is the action we're gonna take and you get to follow
10:23our journey of how we've done it what we've learned what the challenges were which I think
10:27is a far more hey I'm gonna do this if you want to follow along you can rather than right everybody
10:33needs to change because this is a big problem and you're causing it because of your actions
10:38as consumers this is more like come with us and it's beautifully shot so you're drawn in and you
10:44want them to succeed and is there a journey post the film in other words is there not so much in
10:50terms of having a sequel to the documentary but is there a sense that since this was made
10:57there is evidence of change which would necessitate people sort of revisiting this
11:02and almost like having a coda on top of the coda to the film yeah I mean in the in the film there's
11:07an element where the the wildfires kind of come in and luckily they don't quite reach the farm
11:12not to give any spoilers there but it kind of does give me okay right in the years since it's been
11:16filmed okay would they be of lucky now and with the stuff that's going on so yeah there isn't I
11:22haven't seen anything as a follow-up of what happens next with them specifically but I think
11:26there is definitely an opportunity for people to take on the specific learning brilliant well that's
11:30about all the time we have for this first half of the show however before we go to the break we
11:35have a kent film trivia question for you at home which 2021 netflix documentary has a connection
11:44to kent is it a c spiracy b the last forest or c the river runner we'll reveal the answer right
11:52after this break don't go away
12:06hello and welcome back to kent film club just before the ad break we asked you at home a kent
12:12film trivia question which 2021 netflix documentary has a connection to kent I asked is it a c
12:20spiracy b the last forest or c the river runner and now I can reveal to you that the answer was
12:26in fact a c spiracy the film's maker ali tabrizi grew up in ramsgate and studied at canterbury
12:33college his documentary looks at the global fishing industry did you get the answer right
12:38well it is time now leo to move on to your next chosen film and you've gone for don't look up
12:46yes so this was one that I guess isn't necessarily obviously an environmental film
12:55but it obviously hints at it and kind of draws parallel with how we treat and how a lot of
13:02people engage in the media sometimes engage when you when you talk about climate change
13:06but in relation to an asteroid and what I liked about this was that it went more down the
13:11entertainment route and also was that kind of it wasn't explicit and it wasn't telling people
13:15it's entertainment and it's a movie rather than a documentary but it still gets some important
13:20ideas across and particularly the the ridiculousness of sometimes the media responses
13:26to issues like this and and so yeah a very different take but an interesting one and do
13:31you find that for you personally that you know because I mean documentaries can touch you
13:35emotionally I've seen many in the cinema in recent weeks sort of affected me as much maybe more so
13:39than than a film but for you would you sort of find that that because you mentioned the word
13:45entertainment that actually that that's the key to it because the line between education and
13:50entertainment can often if it's done successfully can be a very blurred one because you're you're
13:54being entertained and educated at the same time yes I think yeah it's an important way of doing
13:59it particularly to reach those different audiences as we mentioned before the break there's a certain
14:04group of people that will watch an environmental documentary the majority of the population
14:09wouldn't and even if they did it's quite full-on and hard-hitting I found it tough to watch whereas
14:14something like this you you draw people in and and I think you could totally enjoy it without
14:19getting the reference that they're kind of basically drawing parallels with how we address
14:23the the kind of climate change and so for anybody who hasn't seen this do you just give an overview
14:27of of what goes on in Don't Look Up yes so basically two scientists one of them discovers
14:33that an asteroid is headed for earth and it's going to be catastrophe and they then raise the
14:38alarm kind of start to put stuff out they get media attention stuff gets starts to get picked
14:42up but they're also getting mocked and getting you know called out for for kind of oh it's this
14:48big catastrophe oh it's not that bad and one of them Leonardo DiCaprio again his character
14:55kind of becomes the spokesperson but he kind of gets swayed by the media to kind of say what
15:01they want him to say versus Jennifer Lawrence her character's like why are we not taking this
15:07more seriously and it's this that her challenge for frustration and overwhelm for why is no one
15:14taking this seriously this is a huge problem and then everything that happens and the you know
15:20the billionaires trying to fly off of earth and move to another planet and it gets a bit ridiculous
15:26but that's why it kind of works as an entertainment piece but it had lots of award nominations and a
15:30big-name cast didn't it because obviously we can see Leonardo DiCaprio in the shot so do you think
15:36that that helped because it was the message able then to be conveyed because of who was in it did
15:42you kind of feel that this worked in a very different on a very different scale yes yeah
15:47i think people were definitely drawn in big big cast big names and also that i think the way it
15:53was i didn't know a huge amount about it before i saw it but people would have been drawn in not
15:58knowing necessarily what it's really about and i think that helped to get those audiences who
16:05might not otherwise have seen it so did you know when you watch this because obviously your you
16:10know environmental issues are very important to you but did you go into this knowing what it was
16:15about or were you pleasantly surprised or you know are you sort of strategically thinking right this
16:19film is as we all do because we watch things in a genre that is of interest to us but so
16:27what was your first apprehension of this film yeah so i didn't plan to watch it i was with family and
16:33and someone said oh should we watch this i've heard it's good i think they might have mentioned
16:37something about it but not explicitly so i went in not really knowing but maybe a slight mention
16:45really was all um but it was and i think sometimes that adds to it a little bit because you start to
16:50think oh this is just like you know the issues that we're facing in in terms of kind of climate
16:56change and sustainability oh that's interesting and then you start to see oh wait hang on a minute
17:00i get it so it kind of has that two layers but did you find as well because you mentioned how
17:04preposterous it all gets but did you feel that that was necessary in terms of the fact that this
17:10film was big budget big stars do you feel there was a bit of selling out involved or did you
17:14actually think well why not because you know often it's what we take away from a film that you know
17:18often it's the way that you know a straight documentary as it were can sometimes make us
17:23have a sort of transformative experience an absurd film can actually make us reflect very
17:27seriously on what we've watched so where did that intersect for you for me it was great that the
17:31absurdity of it was the good bit because it shows like yeah how we're we're dealing with this is
17:38absurd and it made it a little bit it made it lighter to kind of a little bit not poke fun at
17:43it but i think when when you work in this space and i've had conversations with people and it's
17:46full-on to to work and to be trying to tackle climate issues you can feel exhausted sometimes
17:52so you need that lightness and that fun and almost to be able to laugh at yourself and to laugh at
17:56the situation knowing that you know how serious it is but you also know that we've got to still
18:02live our lives and so yeah i think that the the humor to it and the lightness i guess i'd say
18:06rather than humor was was a good a good piece brilliant well it's time now to move on to your
18:11final chosen film and oh i do know this film and it is a bit different from the others requiem for
18:16a dream yes so this one obviously not an environmental documentary but i think i guess i
18:22just wanted to share it from the point of view of how much this film moved me and how much you feel
18:29this film i first watched it as a teenager i think and just feeling afterwards just like oh i don't
18:36really know what to do with that and just really feeling and i and so that's i guess why i wanted
18:42to bring it in and obviously it deals with like addiction in various forms but also this pursuit
18:47of you know the dream of whatever we've got and so it touches some serious issues very powerfully
18:55done and so that was yeah the reason i picked this one was how much storytelling can really
19:01impact us and we can really feel because this is darren aronofsky who who's a very visceral
19:06filmmaker but as i recall i saw it i think on dvd not long after it came out and so ellen burston
19:12veteran actress uh jennifer connelly is in this as well but you're right it's it's that sort of
19:17disintegration of a dream maybe the american dream but there's something in there about that
19:22mismatch between i think a lot of films are like this but the mismatch between the dream and the
19:27reality and this takes you down a very quite at times quite squalid quite difficult painful path
19:33yes definitely and i think that sometimes maybe the parallels as well is like that difficult
19:37ness that sometimes we can experience when watching films you know it's definitely not my
19:41favorite in terms of oh isn't this a great film but favorite in terms of yeah like you said to
19:45really feel that visceral experience of the characters but also to reflect on yourself like
19:51you said it's it's about that pursuit of the american dream in a lot of cases um which i know
19:56we've all i've certainly fell into that like right i've got to keep progressing and pursuing and you
20:00know i have a responsibility to make a difference but sometimes it can it can be be a bit too much
20:07and we can put too much pressure on ourselves to to really get to it yeah and also i mean this is
20:12what i found i mean aronofsky has form in this area but that sort of sense that it's sort of
20:16showing well this is what happens sometimes when things are a bit twisted or when things don't go
20:20the way that we want them to do we still plow on but there's lots of scenes here of of jennifer
20:25connelly's character as i recall uh you know taking various pills and then you sort of see that
20:30the impact is is terrible but no one quite knows where to advance from that point yeah it's almost
20:35like that the what's the the fallacy of false um costs or whatever the the term is about just
20:41kind of keeping going and keeping going the same thing rather than is there a point where you just
20:45have to quit and and call it and say right it's not going to happen versus we're taught kind of
20:50keep striving keep pushing if you've got a dream keep going for it but where's the line and i it's
20:55an unanswered question i think because you have those people who have worked for 20 years and
20:59then suddenly they they make it and they're celebrated as heroes and then you have those
21:03who struggle and struggle and struggle and never make it and people go oh well you know you you
21:07were fooled to think you could achieve that dream but we hold both of those people up and we hold
21:12them differently depending if they succeed or not but they both are exhibiting the same behaviors
21:15and the same actions of keep going keep going and that's very much i guess what the characters are
21:20doing in this is just they are blinkered they are continuing at that you know in in the pursuit of
21:25what they're after and also when you consider that sometimes of course history tells a different
21:31story many years or decades afterwards we we've seen that in many of the films that have been
21:35chosen on this program over the last few months that sort of sense sometimes that somebody in 20
21:42years time might look back and say okay well at the time it wasn't very successful we weren't we
21:46weren't necessarily on the right path but actually we've been vindicated and i think reckon for a
21:50dream is is good at showing that actually sometimes it's easy to say oh well look at this successful
21:55person look what they've done but it shows that the journey there doesn't always work for everyone
21:58and maybe somebody else needs to come along and and try their hand at it but history often does
22:03recognize the winners and this is a good film of actually saying well let's also take note
22:07of the people along the way you haven't perhaps uh exactly had a winning formula yeah what's the
22:13cost of all those people that we've missed and and i actually saw a piece um you know slightly
22:18off topic but on ballet dancers and how much work it takes and the precision and the perfectionism
22:24that is needed to be the top ballet dancer but how many dancers do you lose on the way because
22:29it's just crushing and the perfectionism that that they have to exhibit but they either just
22:35can't live up to it or it gets them from a mental health point of view i think stuff like this really
22:40shows that and the same director of course isn't it with the ballet film that winona rider was in
22:44oh yes um black swan yes again very similar actually so so there's definitely a pattern
22:50so is this a film that you could watch again is it one of those films that you sort of watched it
22:55and it's had an impact on you or do you watch it again sort of feel that you negotiate with it
22:58differently so i did actually watch it kind of relatively recently and i think this time being
23:04a little bit more prepared so i waited until i was in the space where i felt ready to embrace that
23:09wave of emotion and and kind of experience that comes from it i from a from a filmmaking and a
23:14storytelling point of view i think it's it's amazing it's just like i said the narrative
23:18being tough but i got more this time i think on the first watch was more the addiction side
23:24whereas this time i definitely got more of that american dream the striving element that i hadn't
23:29necessarily before fantastic well that's i'm afraid all the time we have for today many thanks
23:35to liu bachelor for joining us and being such a brilliant guest and many thanks to you all for
23:40tuning in be sure to come back and join us again at the same time next week until then that's all
23:46from us goodbye