Nepali Times

Philippe Borrel is a French documentary filmmaker who explores different social issues linked to environment, food and technology. His first documentary, Not in my name! came out in 2006 and featured the American anti-war movements protesting against President George W Bush’s military intervention in Iraq.

Since then, the award-winning filmmaker has been questioning development, control, industrialisation and growth. His 2008 Alerte dans nos assiettes brought to light the risks of junk food in France, and in 2010 Eco Warriors investigated the underground world of the radical ecologist activists. 

Borrel’s two documentaries will be screened at Alliance Française Kathmandu (AfK) on 5 September. The first, A world beyond humans?, was released in 2012. Written and directed by Borrel, it is based on an original idea by Noël Mamère, former journalist and member of French Green party, Europe Ecologie-Les Verts. The documentary presents a somewhat gloomy picture of our dependence on technologies like computers, smartphones and robots.   Borrel questions whether we have become robots ourselves and confronts the belief based on which technology will never surpass humans and on which we invented these machines. The warnings are more eye-openers than apocalyptic predictions.

The second documentary to be screened at AfK is Borrel’s newest work, The Invisible (R)evolutions released in 2014. This can be seen as a follow-up of A World Beyond Humans?, starting with this same idea that man is unable to control his own creations: money and technology. Sociologists and economists warn us about this risk on our health is indispensable. 

But Borrel gradually highlights local and very small initiatives in different parts of the world – Europe, USA, India and Latin America. These people choose to leave the fast world to live in their own pace (the original French title is L’urgence de ralentir (The Urgency To Slow Down). 

As in his first documentary, Borrel’s latest production shines the light on those who are not heard by the elite media. The question is: can they continue to confront and resist the juggernaut of global capitalism? Borrel’s two documentaries are an appeal to revert to human values in society.

A World Beyond Humans?, 2012, 52 minutes at 3pm 

The Invisible (R)evolutions, 2014, 85 minutes at 5.30pm

Alliance française of Kathmandu, (01)424283, [email protected]

The screenings will be followed by an interaction with the filmmaker.

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Awakening documentary, Malika Aryal

The seeds of war, Kunda Dixit

Climate refugees, Tsering Dolker Gurung

Triumph of documentary, Kunda Dixit

Citizenfour, Sophia Pande