Sheffield DocFest 2020: The Story of Plastic | Interview of Deia Schlosberg
We were honored to interview Deia Schlosberg, climate reporter and director of the eye-opening documentary The Story of Plastic, addressing the current global plastic crisis, now playing at Sheffield Doc/Fest.
We flagged The Story of Plastic in our top ten favourite feature documentaries of the 2020 Sheffield Doc/Fest which kicked off on June 10th. Indeed, Deia Schlosberg’s documentary turns out to be an eye-opening, thought-provoking, indispensable film about the current global plastic crisis. The Story of Plastic offers a realistic and pragmatic look at a complex, man-made crisis by highlighting the misleading corporate narratives surrounding the plastic pollution crisis as well as the damage done at every stage along the life cycle of the fossil fuel product. Striking footage, original animations, and archival material combine to point to the disastrous impact of the plastics industry, shedding new light on a pressing global challenge that threatens the life and health of animals, humans, and civilization on Earth.
Before completing her feature directorial debut, The Story of Plastic, Deia Schlosberg, who works as a climate reporter, an independent filmmaker and an environmental justice advocate, produced Josh Fox’s How to let go of the world and love all the things climate can’t change. Deia also co-produced Awake, A Dream from Standing Rock (Tribeca/Netflix), and The Reluctant Radical (2018).
We were lucky and honored to interview Deia, both on her latest eye-opening documentary and her immensely rich and inspiring career.
“A slow motion emergency that sadly people are normalizing.”
Film Fest Report: Why is it urgent to solve the global plastic crisis? Why is there an emergency?
Deia Schlosberg: I think the emergency has been there for a long time. But it’s increasing and that’s the piece of this whole problem that really keeps me up at night. There are a lot of scary components, people are losing their lives because of the related toxins in all parts of the production chain. So, it’s an emergency. It’s been an emergency for a long time. The frontline communities have been dealing with the ramifications of this industry for a long time. And globally, it’s an emergency because of the climate impacts of the continued production of fossil fuel and petrochemical materials. But that’s kind of a slow motion emergency that sadly, I think, people are normalizing.
“There’s so much green washing that I didn’t realize was so intentional.”
Film Fest Report: Working on The Story of Plastic, you have met with a lot of people, experts and activists, all around the world. To what extent did this process challenge your perception of the global plastic crisis?
Deia Schlosberg: I went into the project really wanting to tell the production side of the story, the front-end of the story, that was kind of left out of a lot of the media coverage. And the more I learned about the issue, the more I talked to people about it, the more I realized that so many of the ingrained ideas that we have about plastics, come directly from the plastics industry, through their marketing, through their kind of back-door messaging, including the efficacy of recycling. There’s actually so much green washing that I didn’t realize was so intentional on the part of the producers, until I really started digging in more. That’s when we changed the story of the movie from not just the story of this whole cycle but the story of the story that we’ve been told about plastic.
Film Fest Report: It’s scary to uncover such lies…
Deia Schlosberg: Yes! And the geopolitical implications as well. The fact that I could see news headlines everyday and then realize how they were connected to this industry…
“We need to turn off the tap.”
Film Fest Report: What’s interesting with The Story of Plastic is that not only does it show the emergency and the seriousness of the global plastic crisis but it also highlights solutions and paths we could follow. In this regard, practically speaking, the European Union has voted to ban single-use plastics by 2021. Do you think this is promising? Do you think the United States could follow? And what should be the next steps?
Deia Schlosberg: I think single-use bans are fantastic! This is a really great place to start, at any level of government, even if it’s one community or one city — a lot of regional or State policies come form successful city policies. As soon as there is a model for a policy and proof of concept that it works, then it’s a lot easier to scale. So, I don’t think it’s a kind of all-or-nothing game. What the European Union has done is incredible. I don’t think that, right now, there is the political will in the United States for such a broad national policy, but I do think in certain sections of the country, certain States, certain cities, there would be any problem with getting solid policies enacted. And then, hopefully as leadership changes in the country, those can be scaled. And that has to be possible, because we are not going to have the choice at some point.
As to the next steps, I don’t think they should be next but concurrent. It needs to be the curtailing of production, restrictions on fossil fuel, petrochemical exploration, development, infrastructure… And again, that can be started at a more local level and then amplified. That is really what needs to happen. Everything else is secondary. We just need to turn off the tap. So, those regulations really need to be set and enforced, which will happen when governments stop subsidizing these industries.
Film Fest Report: In October 2016, you were arrested and charged with felonies for filming a pipeline protest in North Dakota. You ended up facing a possible 45 years in prison. Four years later, how do you look back at this event? Has it altered the way you approach your work and mission as an environmental filmmaker and social justice advocate?
Deia Schlosberg: That event made me pretty weary for a while. I was basically on permission for about a year so I was pretty nervous. It happened in October 2016, right before the elections in the United States, so I didn’t know what kind of ramifications those charges would have once a much less sympathetic branch is installed. That’s why, it was scary for a while. But it really just reinforced my desire to get those stories out and to cover those stories. There is a reason North Dakota cracked down on environmental reporting at the site I was at — at Standing Rock — and then other States where the rest of that pipeline protest was happening. So, yes, eventually it made me more determined to cover those stories.
Film Fest Report: Not only is it important to make eye-opening films like The Story of Plastic but it is even more important to be able to bring it to the biggest audience possible and have it seen by decision makers. How did you design your distribution strategy, despite the current pandemic, to be able to maximize the impact of the film?
Deia Schlosberg: From the very beginning, the goal was to make this film a tool for the Break Free From Plastic movement and all the organizations that are part of that movement and which were partners in making this film. We knew that no matter what distribution the film eventually had, we had to carve out a space for those organizations to use the film as a tool for their networks and to get it out there globally. So we kind of had a grassroots distribution strategy. And along with that, thankfully Discovery picked it up. Since they have a global reach, in addition to the grassroots distribution, it was an amazing, very fortunate combination. On top of that, there are free screenings available to any organization that’s interested, a lot of schools and teachers have also been signing up. And we’re just getting going now on more official educational distribution. There are several versions of curricula already written up and we’ll start approaching schools and institutions more directly.
“it’s possible to have massive, large scale change happen.”
Film Fest Report: Releasing a film in the middle of a pandemic must be pretty challenging and frustrating…
Deia Schlosberg: Obviously, it’s really strange to release a film during a pandemic. When usually, I think that the most important part of screening a film is the discussion that happens afterwards and getting people involved with their local communities and organizations. That cannot happen right now, but there is a lot of amazing stuff going on with virtual screenings and virtual panels that actually bring a lot more people than in person. There are trade-offs, for sure.
Film Fest Report: Speaking of the pandemic, we observed a decline in human activity during the lockdown, which provided one more piece of evidence of our impact on the environment and on climate change. Do you think this can push people to act on and change their way of consuming?
Deia Schlosberg: I do think this is helping show people that it’s possible to have massive, large scale change happen if it really needs to. And it does. It’s just harder for people to see that. But just since the lockdown happened in the US, we’ve had three major pipeline projects shut down — even though one of them is refusing apparently. I think industries are going to keep fighting but hopefully it’s just a sign of the direction we should head to, with maybe more shutdowns to come.
Film Fest Report: Do you think environmental issues will be part of the presidential election debates in the US? Do you think that since 2016, things have changed among the American society?
Deia Schlosberg: Obviously, everything here is intensely polarized right now, way more so than four years ago. And I think that every piece of reporting and journalism that comes out has those polarizing lenses put upon it. It’s really hard to release something that transcends that right now. I don’t think it’s the good direction that we’ve been going the last four years…
“If there’s no joy, if there’s no art, if there’s no love, if there’s no community, then what’s the point of fighting?”
Film Fest Report: What other films do you recommend watching for people who’d like to keep learning about those environmental issues? Whether they be documentaries or fiction films, like Dark Waters (Todd Haynes) for instance…
Deia Schlosberg: I was going to say that one first! We had just released The Story of Plastic, like a few weeks before Dark Waters came out! I know Mark Ruffalo (playing the main character of Dark Waters) personally and he’s an amazing, lovely human being. He just embodied everything that we had just learned about and tried to put together. They did such a magnificent job! Then let’s see…
Film Fest Report: Feel free to mention your own films!
Deia Schlosberg: Then I’d recommend a film that I produced, which Josh Fox directed: How to let go of the world and love all the things climate can’t change (2016). That project had a huge impact on me, because it really stressed the importance of focusing on what we’re really fighting for. And that’s what keeps me from feeling paralyzed, despite the gravity of the situation. If there’s no joy, if there’s no art, if there’s no love, if there’s no community, then what’s the point of fighting all these things? I think that project allowed me to embrace those things and value those things, and not make the fight itself be the meaning, but to have the fight be in service of a larger meaning. Those films that make you want to keep going and that make you want to keep fighting are critical for me.
We’d like to thank Deia both for her kindness and our insightful, inspiring conversation, as well as Sheffield Doc/Fest for showcasing the amazing The Story of Plastic among other powerful documentaries, available on the festival’s VOD Platform Selects, until July 10th.
For more information about The Story of Plastic, make sure to visit the film’s official website and join the Break Free From Plastic movement.
