Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

In between going to follow the Italian Retrospective I added two sessions of the shorts being shown at the San Sebastian Film Festival. The first was led by Southern Brides – the information we had in the guide said it would be about: “Mature women discuss marriage, their first time, their intimate relationship with sexuality. By repeating these ancient rites, the director questions her lack of wedlock, children and, with it, a chain of disappearing mother-daughter relations.” Good films, whether long or short have a good ark to describe the story they want to tell. Southern Brides did not have that. It would have benefitted from an overview by the filmmaker explaining the intent and what the film was perhaps an ending where she brought together the message, she wanted people to take away. The film was disjointed, and the interviewer clearly had her thoughts which she would at times try and impose on the people she was interviewing. It didn’t clearly keep to the structure of w...

 The main focus of my 2024 San Sebastian Film Festival has been the  Italian Retrospective which focused on the so-called poliziesco genre. It looked at fascism, terrorism and the mafia - 22 films which I perhaps saw a third of them.  I balanced the political films with a wonderful family movie 'The Wild Robot' by DreamWorks Animation which has produced such classics as Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and Megamind. Wild Robot is another huge success. As the darker nights descend what better than taking your children to an uplifting film. We are all becoming more aware of AI and Robots and the impact they may have on our lives. Here is one robot that takes a different direction :-)  So what is the story? It is based in the future where a robot from the ROZZUM series made by the Universal Dynamics company finds itself shipwrecked on an uninhabited island.  Roz as the robot is called is designed to serve - but as this is an uninhabited is...

 The guest blog from the European Environment Bureau was originally found here.    Hello, After weeks of negotiations with Member States, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen revealed her nominees for the College of Commissioners this Tuesday. The 27 appointees, one from each EU country, will oversee key policy areas and steer the Commission’s political leadership for the next five years. The final roster followed intense negotiations and concerns about gender balance. The initial list had just six women, but the final number increased to 11, still falling short of the previous mandate’s balance. The next step is EU Parliament approval. Together with other NGOs, we’ve prepared questions  MEPs should be asking t...

Of course, you go to the San Sebastian Film Festival! This is the first year since I think 2009 that I haven’t been in New York for the High-Level week at the UN and whatever associated events are happening. This year it’s the Summit of the Future and the AMR Summit and of course Climate Week. Although I think the work around AMR has been great with a lot of the recommendations from the report chaired by Mai Motley it isn’t an area, I have done much work on since 2015. I didn’t have a reason to attend the New York meetings for that. The Summit of the Future is a huge, missed opportunity to address the much larger governance issues around new technology that are emerging. If you are interested in this area, I do suggest grabbing a copy of my book Tomorrow’s People and New Technology. The book looks at nine disruptive industries and how they impact on delivering the 2030 agenda and the Paris Agreement looking through the use of these technologies in our homes, travel, jobs, health ed...

  If you are going to Seattle this is a must to go to. Dear Relatives,   With immense gratitude and excitement, I’m inviting you to the grand opening of  Tidelands , a  6,000 square foot gallery  in the heart of downtown Seattle dedicated to Native creatives in fine art, media, and storytelling. Opening this gallery is truly a dream come true for me. It’s a milestone I’ve been working toward my entire career. As a Native woman from the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes, having this space means everything to me. It’s a place where our voices, stories, and art can be celebrated, and to have it in  downtown Seattle , a city with such rich Indigenous roots, feels like a powerful step forward for representation. I’d be honored if you would join us for this momentous occasion on  Saturday, September 21st, from 5-8pm  at  55 University Street , just a block away from the waterfront and Ferris wheel. ...