By Jill Lawless
VENICE, Italy (AP) --With wars, atrocities and the desperation of refugees dominating the daily news, it's easy to feel despair about human nature.
French filmmaker Yann Arthus-Bertrand hopes to restore movie-watchers' faith – or at least awaken their compassion – with "Human," a documentary that compiles the extraordinary stories of ordinary people from around the world.
Arthus-Bertrand, the aerial photographer behind best-selling coffee-table book "Earth From Above," interviewed hundreds of people from more than 60 countries, including Rwandan genocide survivors, American army veterans, Syrian refugees, Afghan farmers and the president of Uruguay. Victims and perpetrators tell stories of killing and vengeance, while other subjects speak of love, forgiveness and pride.
The subjects are presented in close-up and without context – we never even learn their names. The aim is to make viewers look these disparate strangers in the eye and listen to their words.
"I think the only way to make people think is through emotions. Not through the brain – through the heart," the director said during an interview at the Venice Film Festival, where "Human" plays for the public on Saturday.
The documentary – endorsed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon – screens inside the U.N. General Assembly hall in New York the same day.
The onscreen interviews are interspersed with aerial shots of cities and deserts, oceans, forests and crowds, whose almost abstract beauty gives viewers a chance to pause and digest what they have heard.
Arthus-Bertrand shot more than 2,500 hours of footage over two years, speaking to more than 2,000 people. He says the interviews reinforced his view that "everybody has something to say. Everybody."
The first cut of the movie was 12 hours long. With some regret, the director has trimmed it to just over three hours.
"There were so many strong stories we cut," he said. "(But) people have to go to the toilet, people have to go to eat."
"Human" is a passion project for the 69-year-old director, who says he has found that with age "you like to go to essential things, to go to what is important."
The film wants viewers to reflect on fundamental questions: Why is there war and hatred? Why do some have too much and some too little? Why is humanity despoiling the Earth?
"I know it is not going to change with a movie," Arthus-Bertrand said. "But I am doing my job."
Funded by French charity the Bettencourt-Schueller Foundation, "Human" will have a wide cinema release and TV broadcast later this month in France, and will be distributed free to charities, community groups and local authorities willing to arrange screenings.
It's backed by the global heft of Google – which will devote a Google Doodle and a mini-site to it on Saturday – and accompanied by an array of online clips, resources and background informat ion.
Arthus-Betrand says he hopes viewers will emerge from "Human" thinking, "I like people more at the end of the film than I did before."
He says he knows it might sound "naive and utopian," but he remains an optimist about the human condition.
"I was so pleased when I saw these refugees coming (into) Germany and this guy with a sign: 'Welcome,'" he said. "I was crying, in fact. This is when you put your humanity before your fear."
California governor signs law to protect children from social media addiction
California will make it illegal for social media platforms to knowingly provide addictive feeds to children without parental consent beginning in 2027 under a new law Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday.
California follows New York state, which passed a law earlier this year allowing parents to block their kids from getting social media posts suggested by a platform's algorithm. Utah has passed laws in recent years aimed at limiting children's access to social media, but they have faced challenges in court.
The California law will take effect in a state home to some of the largest technology companies in the world. Similar proposals have failed to pass in recent years, but Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law in 2022 barring online platforms from using users' personal information in ways that could harm children. It is part of a growing push in states across the country to try to address the impacts of social media on the well-being of children.
"Every parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children — isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late into the night," Newsom said in a statement. "With this bill, California is helping protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits."
The law bans platforms from sending notifications without permission from parents to minors between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m., and between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays from September through May, when children are typically in school. The legislation also makes platforms set children's accounts to private by default.
Opponents of the legislation say it could inadvertently prevent adults from accessing content if they cannot verify their... Read More