Climate Change Activists Interrupt Locarno Piazza Grande Screening Of Luc Jacquet’s South Pole Doc ‘Magnetic Continent’

Climate change activists briefly halted the Locarno Film Festival’s honorary awards ceremony for environmentalist and documentarian Luc Jacquet on Monday evening.

Jacquet, who won the Best Documentary Oscar in 2006 for The March Of The Penguins, was being feted with the Locarno Kids Award, followed by a screening of his new film Magnetic Continent in front of a 7,000-strong crowd on the festival’s landmark Piazza Grande.

He was about to say a few words on the documentary, inspired by his 30-year passion for Antarctica and concerns for its future, when two young protestors burst onto the stage and tried to unfurl a banner.

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Security guards quickly apprehended the pair, but festival director Giona A. Nazzaro and president Marco Solari intervened to allow them to speak, with the former declaring: “We’re with you. We’re worried about the same thing.”

The activists, wearing t-shirts bearing the slogan “Act Now”, delivered a message highlighting the urgent need for more to be done to tackle the climate emergency.

Swiss climate change pressure group Renovate Switzerland , which appeared to have coordinated the action, put out a series of social media posts documenting the initiative.

The organization pointed out that while the consequences of climate change might seem a distant threat to many in Switzerland, a deadly storm which ripped through the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds at the end of July was a sign that nowhere would be spared its impact.

Locarno is among a number of film events targeted by climate activists this year, with the broadcast for the French Cesar awards briefly interrupted in January when a protestor suddenly appeared on stage while demonstrators glued themselves to the Berlinale’s opening night red carpet in February.

The Locarno Film Festival runs from August 2 to 12.

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