The Financial Knot That Keeps Us Stuck
This story is presented by Transitions Film Festival.
As a supporting partner of Transitions Film Festival, we discussed with Hot Money director Susan Kucera how our financial system keeps us from making swift and much-needed collective change.
Susan Kucera is an accomplished director, producer, and cinematographer, recognised by the United Nations as a recipient of the Gold World Medal for her work on climate change and sustainability.
Can you tell us about the father-and-son duo at the heart of this film?
I met four-star General Wesley Clark (the allied commander of Nato turned financial adviser to large companies) and his son Wes Clark Jr. while filming Living In the Future’s Past. Two years later, the kernel of a film planted itself in my mind – a conversation between a father and son (who have very different points of views on the subject and how to deal with it) as a generational dialogue about how climate change will affect our financial system.
What sparked the idea to zone in on the financial side of the climate crises?
It seemed logical to follow up to the introspective Living In The Future’s Past with a nuts-and-bolts view of how the machinery of our money system contributes and reacts to climate change.
We touched briefly on the Federal Flood Insurance program in the US in Living In The Future’s Past and how that costs taxpayers so much money for bailing out coastal property owners. For-profit insurance companies are risk averse so I wondered how this may play out in the money system when people can’t insure their homes because of fire or flood. Both General Clark and his son were able to explain the worldwide financial implications of this and it is stunning. Along with commentary from other experts, I felt like I received a PhD in economics after I put the film together.
It took a lot of creative effort to make what would be a dry subject entertaining and interesting. I enjoyed working with New Yorker cartoonist Kaamran Hafeez and also Anna Kirsch, a very talented writer who came up with many of the cartoon concepts.
Hot Money returns to a call to action of reorganisation throughout the film. Of less consumption and stronger leadership. What would you say to individuals wanting collective change?
I can see the beginnings of how we change our exposure to climate change in our communities. Disasters are expensive and we need to harden our infrastructure to cope in the future. Dealing with these issues in advance is always cheaper than waiting until after the next flood or fire disaster, and with unnecessary loss of life.
We have to re-orient ourselves and start unravelling this treadmill we are on. Companies are punished on stock exchanges if they don’t see constant profit and growth so it is hard for them to be able to reinvest in truly “greening” themselves. That also takes investment, which may put them in the red for a period of time. Investors and pension funds don’t like that.
In all countries some of these changes are so massive it is going to take the will of the majority of people to move us where we need to go, but it is possible.
How has your filmmaking and message evolved since your last Transitions Film Festival films Breath of Life and Living in the Future's Past?
Breath of Life examined our behaviours and looked to cultures like the native Hawaiian culture which evolved for 1500 years in isolation. We looked at what lessons this has for us for a sustainable future.
Living in the Future’s Past was a collaboration with academy award-winning actor Jeff Bridges. We looked at the human being philosophically – as an animal with our propensities such as optimal foraging strategies and how our societies form a superorganism functioning on the planet, and our individual part in it. It’s a very introspective film.
Hot Money is very matter-of-fact looking at the financial knot that keeps us stuck. It keeps us from making swift and much-needed changes. All the films look at the same subject through a different prism.
What did you learn during filming?
I learned that we need to reorganise much of our financial system so money can flow where it needs to for change to really take place. I would certainly implore the government to take a hard look at the shadow banking system and what derivatives are created from the payment of people’s mortgages. On a personal level, if I think of myself and my family as a small country, I too am making changes. I’m investing my time and energy towards a sustainable future at every level where I can.
"We have to re-orient ourselves and start unravelling this treadmill we are on."
"The film shows how deeply complicated these entrenched financial frameworks are, but they can be improved and it wouldn’t even be that radical."
What impact do you hope this film will have?
As a filmmaker I think all films, stories and conversations contribute to the cultural collective. I hope all these films help spark conversations that lead to provoking change in our habits, and on a larger societal scale as well.
I also think the film shows how deeply complicated these entrenched financial frameworks are, but they can be improved and it wouldn’t even be that radical.
Hot Money is screening as part of The Transitions Film Festival this February and March.
The Transitions Film Festival showcases features and documentaries about the trends and innovations shaping our lives and the solutions to society’s greatest challenges.
To watch Hot Money and view the full line-up of world-changing films visit www.transitionsfilmfestival.com.