The documentary I am Greta – Una forza della natura arrives on streaming: the first feature-length film about the incredible story — personal included — of Greta Thunberg.
Everyone knows who she is, but few people really know her. Despite having achieved global fame in a very short time for her tenacious commitment to the climate, Greta Thunberg has in fact kept a great deal of her private life under wraps, while also having to contend with the "dark side" of fame — the side that, more often than not, puts anyone who comes near it in the stocks.
The documentary I am Greta – Una forza della natura sets out to lift that veil and sweep away the slander. And it does so without rhetoric, clichés or celebratory tones, instead adopting a subjective perspective and showing us the world as it appears through Greta's eyes.
Choosing a measured tone, a slow pace and evocative music, Swedish director Nathan Grossman, who followed the young activist throughout her first year of activism, shows us the genuine and deeply human side of Greta. A perspective that reveals the personality hidden behind the warrior Greta we have grown used to seeing over these years. A young girl, ready to step out of her comfort zone and endure haters and sceptics, all in the name of a great ideal.
Expected in cinemas as a special event at the beginning of November, the film by Swedish director Nathan Grossman will arrive directly on streaming from 14 November, distributed by Koch Media and with the media partnership of LifeGate.
I am Greta will be available on demand on the digital platforms of Sky Primafila, Google Play, Infinity, Timvision, Chili and Rakuten TV and in the virtual screens of the MioCinema and Io resto in sala circuits.
To introduce it, on Saturday the 14th at 8:30 pm, LifeGate director Tommaso Perrone will also be on hand, alongside Mario Tozzi (geologist, Cnr researcher, author and presenter of the programme Sapiens – Un solo pianeta on Rai3), Giovanni Mori (Fridays for Future) and Alessandro Giacobbe (Circuito Cinema Genova/#iorestoinsala).
To book a screening, simply visit circuitocinemagenova.com and follow the instructions.
When in August 2018 Swedish documentary filmmaker Nathan Grossman began filming Greta Thunberg's first climate strikes, he could never have imagined that this girl — so enigmatic and determined — would be named Time's "Person of the Year – 2019" and that in front of his lens the seeds of an epochal revolution were beginning to sprout.
That revolution which, within the space of just one year, saw the solitary skolstrejk för klimatet (school strikes for the climate) transform into global protests capable of mobilising millions of students and workers around the world and raising public awareness of the problem of global warming as never before.
And so a fortunate intuition gave rise to an extraordinary story, and the Swedish director experienced first-hand the wonders of cinéma vérité, which so often sees the most beautiful and incredible stories come to life in front of the lens, without the need for a script.
The way Greta's influence and the youth climate movement have grown in just one year is truly incredible, and it is a historic event. So I am really happy to bring viewers along with me on this journey, into her public and private sphere, in Sweden, in Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean!
Nathan Grossman, director
Over the 102 minutes of I am Greta we are always with her as we retrace her first year of activism. A year so incredible that Greta herself describes it as "A very surreal film with a truly unlikely plot." Through director Nathan Grossman's gaze, we follow her at home, at school, on the road and find her again at the symbolic locations of her public story. From the first pickets outside the Swedish parliament, to the great climate strikes, through to official meetings that have been the stage for her by-now famous speeches (read: dressing-downs) to politicians. The vantage point, however, is different from that of the traditional media through which we have come to know her until now. What the director gives us is an intimate, close-up gaze that — through accounts and snippets of old home videos — also allows us to discover the personal story of Greta and her family. A discreet gaze that opens doors for us, without ever throwing them too wide.
The images speak of a determined young girl, but also one who is witty and affectionate, sweeping away once and for all the malicious speculation about a media figure being steered by her family or by some other entity. What emerges clearly is her resolute and strong-willed character, as well as her emotional depth. Accompanying the film is Greta's own narrating voice, which never intrudes but translates thoughts and reflections, lending the story an additional layer of depth.
Another interesting aspect of I am Greta is the different levels on which it can be read. Alongside the account of events runs a metaphorical narrative of Greta's story. It is no coincidence that the film opens and closes with the evocative images of the transatlantic crossing the protagonist made in August 2019.
On that sailing boat, lashed by the ocean's fierce waves, it is not only Greta aboard, but all of humanity.
I spent two years hunched over while filming because I wanted to be at eye level with Greta. The point of view is hers, just as everything she says comes from her. I tried as much as possible to make this documentary from her perspective.
Nathan Grossman, director
After the first footage, shot in front of the Stockholm parliament, Grossman found himself following Greta for an entire year — through strikes, travels across Europe and meetings with institutions, politicians and even Pope Francis. A unique opportunity that allowed him not only to document one of the most significant stories of this period, but to make (almost single-handedly!) a film worthy of the Toronto Film Festival and the 77th Venice International Film Festival. It was here, last September, that Greta joined the press conference dedicated to the film by connecting via Zoom directly from school, between one lesson and the next.
"I would like to be a kind of bridge, so that people can understand more about climate change," she said, addressing the festival audience. "It's not about me: the film tells, through one individual, a story that is not individual."
After all, this has been Greta's goal from the very beginning: to spark people's interest in the issues of climate change, to awaken consciences and force those in power to take the problem seriously, moving from words to action.
What is certain is that Greta's is no ordinary story, and that the power of her message and her example are explosive. So much so that she herself has become a metaphor for the effort that humanity as a whole is being asked to make today. We can no longer afford to stand still and watch a planet that is issuing us with ever clearer ultimatums. And our smallness in the face of the immensity of the problem can no longer serve as a sufficient excuse. The documentary I am Greta moves in this direction, allowing us to empathise with her and with her most intimately human side. A side little known, but vitally important for truly understanding the scale of her commitment and the enormous effort she has poured into this mission.
Through media coverage, over these years we have come to know the warrior Greta, who silences the powerful with sharp words and outright warnings, such as "You say you love your children, but you are stealing their future!"; and again, "We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth? How dare you?". Tones proportionate to the gravity of the situation being denounced — and ones the film now brings back to us from a new perspective. That of the backstage. We are with Greta before she takes to the stage and reaches a microphone. In the moments when she prepares her speeches, refusing advice from anyone, or when she is seized by panic and retreats to bed. We also see her dancing, going to school, taking care of her dogs, cooking with her mother, reading the terrible comments from haters and climate deniers, and we hear her laughing her head off. But above all we see her travelling the length and breadth of Europe, together with her father Svante, who, like a guardian angel, accompanies her everywhere, supporting her without ever getting in her way.
I really like the film and I think it gives a realistic picture of me and my everyday life. I hope that anyone who watches the film can finally understand that we young people don't strike during school hours just for fun. We are protesting because we have no choice.
Greta Thunberg
The strength of I am Greta lies in the choice to portray with discretion the personality of this figure, who rapidly became the icon of a message, to the point of almost merging entirely with the cause. A figure capable of polarising public opinion, with the risk of diverting attention towards pointless debates. Some love her, some can't stand her. Many probably have no idea of the effort that lies behind her mission. A mission that has come at a high price for a shy, solitude-loving young girl like her, who found herself at the centre of a media storm that spared her neither harsh criticism nor even threats. From those who accused her of arrogance for the mere fact of thinking she could "change the climate", to the most boorish, who targeted her apparent Achilles' heel — her Asperger
