Hot Air

Directed by Alister Barry and Abi King-Jones

If you have given climate change more than a passing thought, you may have wondered - “why hasn’t New Zealand acted to reduce global warming?”

Hot Air answers that question by showing how, over the past twenty years, corporate leaders and their hired lobbyists have delayed and defeated the efforts of National and Labour governments to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

In precise, documented detail we see how Ministers Simon Upton, Pete Hodgson and David Parker, supported by advisers and scientists, presented their Cabinet colleagues with proposals for nation-wide action to address the problem. With similar clarity, we see how big business recruited climate change deniers and spin doctors to manipulate public opinion, frighten cautious politicians and remove climate change from voters’ attention and governments’ agendas.

As the film takes us behind the scenes and charts the battles between the guardians of private profit and the politicians elected to protect the common good, we begin to see exactly why and how we are allowing corporations and their executives to subvert our democracy.

“… riveting…” Peter Calder New Zealand Herald ☆☆☆☆

“…compelling…” Fiona Rae New Zealand Listener ☆☆☆☆