A poem for the planet, Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper’s film Metamorphosis takes the pulse of our Earth and bears witness to a moment of profound change: the loss of one world, and the birth of another.

Metamorphosis captures the true scale of the global environmental crisis. Forest fires consume communities, species vanish, and entire ecosystems collapse. Economic growth, tied to increased speed of resource extraction, has created a machine with the capacity to destroy all life.

But this crisis is also an opportunity for transformation.

Through a tidal flow of stunning images, Metamorphosis carves a path from the present to the future, and offers a bold new vision for humanity and the world.

In Milan, architects design vertical forests, urban towers covered with trees and bushes that reduce CO2, produce oxygen, and give new life to the city. In Phoenix, Arizona, swimming pools are repurposed into self-sustaining gardens, lush with plants and fish that generate food for people. In LA, installing solar panels in underserved neighbourhoods provides cleaner energy to families who normally would not be able to access it.

Woven through these and other stories of creativity and reinvention from artists, scientists, thinkers, and young children are creative, systemic solutions for our planet, and for our communities as well.

From the deep ecologic connection that humans share with each other, a radical form of hope emerges, vibrant and alive, like a chrysalis splitting open to reveal some new thing ready to take flight. Metamorphosis cinematically delves into how humanity is being transformed in new ways by the environmental crises we have created.

A poem for the planet, Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper’s film Metamorphosis takes the pulse of our Earth and bears witness to a moment of profound change: the loss of one world, and the birth of another.

Metamorphosis captures the true scale of the global environmental crisis. Forest fires consume communities, species vanish, and entire ecosystems collapse. Economic growth, tied to increased speed of resource extraction, has created a machine with the capacity to destroy all life.

But this crisis is also an opportunity for transformation. Through a tidal flow of stunning images, Metamorphosis carves a path from the present to the future, and offers a bold new vision for humanity and the world.

We first began discussing the concept of Metamorphosis right after Typhoon Haiyan―one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded―struck the Philippines, killing more than 6,000 people. We wondered how experiencing a climate event of that magnitude would change a person, a community, a species. During the process of making the film, climate change came closer to our home in North America. Forest fires threatened our families, there was unprecedented drought, and extreme weather events happened with greater frequency in our own backyard.

Metamorphosis was conceived around the same time that our child, Phoenix, was conceived.  The knowledge that our son would inherit this world in crisis, and the sense that climate change is no longer something in the future but rather is happening right now, intensified our sense of urgency and immediacy. We set out to create a work of cinematic art that is both a reflection of the times and a catalyst for transformation.

As we travelled, and as we experienced the aftermaths of climate disaster, we began to explore the emotional and psychological impacts of the ecological crisis. How could we transform the grief we were facing, which was compounded by tragedy after tragedy? How would we avoid succumbing to “psychic numbing,” as Robert Jay Lifton describes in the film―the urge to turn away from the immensity of this crisis? In Oakland, we met Nikki Silvestri, who suggests that we can transform our grief for what we are losing into praise for the things that we love, and use that as inspiration to serve and protect the earth.

Metamorphosis is intended to spark the imagination. The solutions featured in the film highlight examples of key principles, such as decentralization, repurposing existing materials, freeing the planet from cycles of endless growth, breaking away from carbon-intensive design, and finding ways to draw carbon out of the atmosphere. The theme of metamorphosis, transformation, in this era of climate change inspires deeper questions about how we deal with change, how we adapt, and what is required for humanity to transform this global crisis. The intent of the film is to create a new narrative around climate change―not about blame or denial, but about resilience, transformation and action.