Damon Gameau: Regenerating the World with Fact-Based Dreaming
Environmentalist Damon Gameau.
Words by Daniel Simons.
Damon Gameau has undoubtedly become one of the most beloved environmentalists in Australia. His infectious and empowering optimism and visionary creations of ‘fact-based dreaming’ have opened the world to a new era of solutions storytelling.
Damon Gameau’s That Sugar Film was the most successful Australian documentary of all time. His follow-up feature 2040 also went on to smash box office records and inspire millions of changemakers across the world.
While That Sugar Film saw Damon savage his own body in an effort to draw attention to the perils of hidden sugars in the ‘standard’ Western diet, 2040 was his first attempt at tackling the daunting challenge of planetary health. The innovative science-fiction style, future-casting documentary painted a picture of what the world could look like if we embraced the best solutions available to us today and inspired everyone from primary school students to investment bankers to ‘Join the Regeneration’.
The impact of the film was phenomenal. The documentary helped raise two million dollars for climate solutions, saw 34,000 'personal action plans' activated, had curriculum taught by over 50,000 teachers, and helped support the birth of innovative seaweed farms and platforms for regenerative agriculture.
Damon’s latest project, Regenerating Australia, is a 17-minute documentary set in 2029 that looks back in time and answers the question, ‘What could Australia look like if we simply listened to the needs of its people?’ The film, which takes the form of a retrospective news segment, was developed in partnership with WWF, and serves as a visceral invitation to their ‘Innovate to Regenerate’ challenge. Viewers inspired by the film could apply to have their own regenerative business ideas supported via WWF’s two million dollar seed fund.
Regenerating Australia and ‘Innovate to Regenerate’ weren't enough 'regenerating' for Damon and Regen Studios – the production company Damon founded with his impact producer Anna Kaplan. They’ve also launched ‘The Regenerators,’ an online platform with a mission to build and nurture an international community of planetary healers and regenerators.
We sat down with Damon to talk all things Regeneration and Impact Filmmaking.
Image supplied by WWF.
Combining an impact fund with a film and film tour is a really novel and exciting innovation. It might be the first time it’s ever been done anywhere in the world. How did you first come up with this excellent idea?
After 2040, which had a more global focus on what needed to be done, I always liked the idea of doing an Australian version and creating something that was more localised. Reece Proudfoot, the Impact Manager from WWF reached out after the 2019 bushfires to see if we'd be interested in collaborating on something around narrative.
We got talking and thought it would be great to use all the learnings from 2040, and to make a film and then marry it to a campaign with crowdfunding and philanthropists and impact investors. Then it was a two-year collaboration process from idea to launch.
Reece Proudfoot has praised your films for their ability to inspire audiences and elevate them into a ‘dreaming’ state. What do you want the audience to do after they've seen Regenerating Australia?
After viewing the film, like for 2040, we want people to activate their own tailored plan and get involved personally.
Compared to 2040, Regenerating Australia has a broader reach in the sense that we want to create a 'regenerative network' of people or communities who are doing really interesting regenerative solutions that have holistic outcomes, and then share those learnings with other communities. We really wanted to support a 'community-led' recovery.
That's where WWF came in, and they were great. They put up a two million dollar fund. Anyone who saw the film could apply for it.
One of the things that has been most heartening is seeing the high calibre solutions that have been submitted that we're going to give funding to. Now we're trying to raise more funding because so many of the projects are so good. We want to ramp up more of them.
It’s a fantastic model. Have you seen any other films used as a way to raise funds for projects?
Not specifically, it is quite a new model. We trialled it with That Sugar Film, and obviously 2040. Now it's really starting to happen in all parts of the world. I think people are starting to realise how potent narrative can be if you marry it to direct pathways to action. I really think it is the future.
The new project we are working on, The Regenerators, is trying to do exactly that. Not necessarily raising funds, but we want every story on the platform to be married to direct action. There will be no passive content. Every time you watch something you'll be offered up a direct way to get involved. We're also about to embed an app, or social action tool, where people can meet up with other Regenerators from around the world and share their ideas and learnings and form a community. It's pretty bloody exciting.
Your projects are all focused around 'solutions storytelling'. Do you think that this is the future of filmmaking?
I've read so many studies about the role of storytelling and its ability to influence environmental issues, but I think the power of positive stories to inspire change is just common sense.
I wanted to do an experiment with 2040. Then I saw what it could do. So far, we've seen the same with Regenerating Australia. The amount of people who, after watching the film, wanted to get involved has been really terrific.
I don't think it's the only way; I don't think it's exclusive. I think some people can be motivated by fear. If they just get the shit scared out of them they can actually want to do something.
I think we need all approaches. We need a multi-pronged attack to deal with the issues at hand.
Image supplied by WWF.
Why did you decide to focus on environmental storytelling?
I think I began to see a larger collective story playing out that says we're devoid and separate from nature and that we're largely selfish – and that's just a story. We need to ask ourselves, who is telling that story? Is it the giant corporations and those doctoring the algorithms and the advertising agencies and the reality show hosts? They are the cultural engineers that are shaping a story that is not serving us, and is in fact leading us to self-termination. So we need to change that story.
Your films have had enormous reach. Who are some of the most influential people that have seen the films?
For Regenerating Australia we invited lots of political candidates and many of them said yes. Lots of Independents saw it, obviously lots of Greens, but also members of the Labour and Liberal parties saw the film. That was the whole intention. To make it diverse and to make sure it was a united vision.
2040 was surreal. We had so many crazy high-profile celebs and political figures watching it. Emmanuel Macron and his Environment Minister did a screening. We had CEOs who viewed it on a plane, or their daughters watched it and then wanted to do something with it.
2040 was designed to be an ‘impact’ documentary. You must have had a vision of what success would look like for you. Did the film’s impact meet your expectations?
2040 far surpassed the impact expectations we had. Lots of incredible things have come off the back of that film. The one I'm most proud of is that two and a half million kids have been taught the curriculum materials. Impacting education at that level and inspiring children with solutions and how to think differently about the planet and ecology is wonderful. I think we have 55,000 teachers involved now.
At the end of any impact film screening, there is almost always someone who asks for the 'one thing' they can do. How do you answer that question?
Find the thing you love. You're only going to make change on something you want to be better. Make sure you absolutely love what you're doing. That's why we created tailored action plans for 2040, so that everyone can find their unique pathway for impact.
Then humanise it. I think too often we demonise 'other' people who don't agree with our opinions. From my experience, 99 percent of people think they're doing the right thing. There is the odd sociopath for sure, but most people don't know they're doing something wrong. We're all the heroes of our own story. So make sure to be kind and gentle in your approach to help make the change.
Besides filmmaking, what do you think is the most impactful vehicle for change?
I think we don't acknowledge cultural change often enough. The filmmaking, the art, the music, storytelling, poetry – it’s infuriating that there aren't more people creating the art we need. When I was a teenager there was Rage Against The Machine, there were all of those big anthems about changing the system, but we don't get that these days. It's all a bit homogenised.
I think culture and sport can be incredibly impactful. That's why I love AFL Players for Climate Action and FrontRunners. We work quite extensively with them in trying to get them to talk more about climate. It normalises impactful change for the general public and the passionate sports fans.
Your environmental films have taken up more than half a decade and your tours for the feature and shorts have rivalled a rock star's itinerary. Do you feel a lot of pressure to lead the global regeneration movement?
I don't see myself as leading it to be honest. I think the beautiful thing about regeneration is that it's like the mycelium network under the soil. It's a series of nodes that all connect, and I'm just another node.
I remember reading a quote: “The people who can genuinely change the world are the ones that don't want responsibility or credit for it.” It will only happen when it's a group of people.
That's what is so exciting about regeneration. It's inclusive and it's diverse and it's decentralised, which it has to be if we are going to pull this off.
Regenerating Australia can be viewed online. The first-round winners of the WWF Innovate to Regenerate challenges can be viewed here. The winners of the second round will be announced in February.
Inspired by Damon’s vision for a better world? Join the international community of Regenerators and start creating your own impact today!