On Wednesday, 31st July, at 5:30pm we were in conversation with Damon Gameau, award winning actor, screen writer, director, author and activist. Damon is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), appearing in the Australian films Balibo, Thunderstruck, and Razzle Dazzle, and a range of television series including Raw, Wentworth and Underbelly. Damon wrote and produced “THAT SUGAR FILM”, documenting the impacts of a high sugar diet on his body which became a phenomenal success.
Damon is the co-founder of Regen Studios. In this role, he creates documentaries including “2040”, a visual letter to his then 4 year old daughter exploring what our world would look like if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shift them rapidly into the mainstream. His subsequent film, “REGENERATE AUSTRALIA 2030”, released in 2020 explores what Australia would look like in the year 2030 if we just listened to its people.
His latest documentary is “FUTURE COUNCIL”, screened for the first time at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 11th August 2024. In this film, Damon invited eight school children from around the globe to take a ride on his vegetable-oil powered, bright yellow school bus to confront multinational uber-polluters, talk to politicians, discover cutting edge work at eco-minded organisations, and marvel at the splendour of some of the continent’s most beautiful forests and lakes.
What drives Damon in his work? In this conversation with Damon we considered what could be possible if adults actually listen to the children set to inherit an increasingly inhabitable Earth and discuss how Damon’s work connects and intersects with climate change education and climate justice.