The premiere was on the evening before Earth Day, on April 21th on Slovak national television. "Why is it so hot?" asks a young girl a computer application. "It's due to the climate crisis." We do not have to go to burning Australia or melting Antarctica to see the consequences of climate change. We also feel them here in Slovakia. The Demänovská Ice Cave is melting, long-lasting droughts are destroying the crop and extreme heat threatens our health. But that's not all. If we want to avoid the worst, each of us must answer the simple question: "How do you want to proceed?"
"Many people, including our political representatives, are still convinced that climate change does not affect us in Slovakia and therefore we do not have to address it. We wanted to show that the opposite is true. The climate crisis is already a reality both for us humans and for the surrounding nature. In our fieldwork, we perceive it on a daily basis and we needed to draw attention to the urgency of this problem," says Adriana Brossmannová from the BROZ conservation association, which initiated the film's production.
I have to worry, I would tell the minister too.
"Does climate change also affect Slovakia?" asks the girl of the internet application at the beginning of the new film After Us, the Flood. The film seeks to respond through the stories of specific cities and people from Slovakia who are directly experiencing the effects of the climate crisis. The farmer Jozef Oráč, who struggles with drought every year, also experiences them. His story represents hundreds of farmers throughout Slovakia. "I agreed to shoot, even though I wouldn't want to see myself in the film, I would be ashamed. However, I see the movement of the weather and changes in the behaviour of nature. It is necessary to be afraid, because those changes are obvious. And if a minister or someone from the European Parliament came, I would tell them the same," says Jozef Oráč.
Unless we are confronted with this problem and honest with ourselves, we have an unpleasant future ahead of us. At the same time, we can only resolve this crisis together. The film, therefore, urges viewers to help stop climate change. "We should make more films that deal with climate change, the future of human survival and adaptation. Although we are already overwhelmed by this topic, the company's response is still too moderate. Unfortunately, we do not have enlightened politicians in our government who would deal with the climate crisis even without the urgent demand of the public. In my opinion, this inaction will have to be changed by more significant pressure from below - I believe the film also communicates that," said film director Dorota Vlnová. The film will soon be available with English subtitles.