My Extinction

My Extinction is an excellent look into the step-by-step process of realising and understanding climate change and its impact on everyday people. Josh Appignanesi’s film documents his journey into the unruly world of environmental activism, encompassing his day-to-day life as a father spliced in between scenes of social protest across London. The hook is that he’s a family man, a father of two, having these difficult conversations and slowly learning the importance of acting now if he wants to preserve the future of his kids. It’s a digestible explanation of climate change, relating the problem to one that many other people face.

The general arc of My Extinction is less about Appignanesi’s increasingly loud form of activism, and more so on the belief he has in the cause he’s fighting for. In the feature, as he rants about the many well-educated intellectuals who fail to acknowledge the environmental crisis – because acknowledging a problem means bearing the responsibility of fixing it – his wife reasons that it’s not about him knowing the problem exists, it’s about him believing in himself as part of a solution. This is a wonderful character development that ends the film with Appiganensi proudly announcing his current work on My Extinction.

His direction is also quite stellar, with a very casual approach to the interviews and footage shown. In post-production, there’s heavy usage of hard cuts between the loud protests on the streets to his quiet yet chaotic home life, highlighting the theme of family and reminding viewers of his main inspiration for ushering in an eco-friendly world. As My Extinction was initially filmed in 2019, it includes even the quiet years of lockdown and empty streets during the pandemic. This allows for several passages of time and seasons – come rain, shine or snow, they protest; a quiet reminder that climate change doesn’t just result in extreme heat, but also extremes of all different weather types.

One of the most important features, however, is the inclusion of writers rebelling, which is timely considering the ongoing strike with the WGA. The main takeaway from their presence here is how they use reality to tell stories and how they have the power to peel back the curtain and show the truth for what it is. This pairs heavily with author Zadie Smith’s words: “Now we know that there are people…whose business it is to make science look like opinion.” This triumvirate of science, fiction and reality is a recurring theme that sees Appignanesi slowly reconcile the blurred lines between the three and finally assert the role he plays in the fight against climate change.

Mae Trumata

My Extinction is released in select cinemas on 30^th June 2023.

Watch the trailer for My Extinction here: