Surviving Progress

November. 04,2011

Rating：

7.4

Genre：

Documentary

Keywords：

Based On Novel Or Book China Technology

Trailer Synopsis Cast

Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.

Stephen Hawking as Himself

David Suzuki as Himself

Jane Goodall as Herself

Similar titles

Prime Video

Origins

"Origins" takes a journey through the biological roots of where we have come from and where we have gone. Using fire as a metaphor for technology, the film looks at the advances of our civilization and how the recklessness of unchecked technology is now choking out the environment and poisoning our bodies. Interviews with the biggest names in the health and green space create compelling context and arguments for how we can better coexist with nature. "Origins" shows how man, technology, and nature can walk together in balance.

See Detail

Origins 2014

The Turandot Project

In 1997, Oscar-winning documentarian Allan Miller embarked on a film project with renowned conductor Zubin Mehta and celebrated Chinese film director Zhang Yimou as they joined forces in a production of Puccini's opera Turandot in Florence. Before the year was out, an extraordinary opportunity arose: to stage Turandot in its original setting in the Forbidden City of Beijing. The outdoor production was an undertaking on an epic scale. A fascinating chronicle of an unprecedented cross-cultural collaboration, THE TURANDOT PROJECT combines the pageantry of this opulent opera production with a spectacular cinematic portrait of the struggles and triumphs of Zubin Mehta and Zhang Yimou to mount their production in this most historic venue of China. (Source: Amazon.com)

See Detail

The Turandot Project 2000

Between Earth & Sky

For her entire professional life, renowned ecologist Nalini Nadkarni pioneered climbing techniques to study "what grows back” after an ecological disturbance in the rainforest canopy. Now, after surviving a life-threatening fall from a tree, she must turn her research question onto herself in order to understand the effects of disturbance and recovery throughout her life.

See Detail

Between Earth & Sky 2023

A Brief History of Time

This shows physicist Stephen Hawking's life as he deals with the ALS that renders him immobile and unable to speak without the use of a computer. Hawking's friends, family, classmates, and peers are interviewed not only about his theories but the man himself.

See Detail

A Brief History of Time 1991

Prime Video

Grizzly Man

Werner Herzog's documentary film about the "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man's attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

See Detail

Grizzly Man 2005

The Little Prince's Rap Against The Wicked Souls

A documentary that focuses on two young male inhabitants of Recife (statistically, the fourth worst city in the world to live in) who have both reacted strongly to their situation. One has become a drummer in a rap/rock band. The other has killed forty-four people and is now in jail. Both use the term "Wicked Souls" to describe their enemies.

See Detail

The Little Prince's Rap Against The Wicked Souls 2000

The Sounds of 7am

This short film follows an intoxicated character's journey through the mystery, beauty and eeriness of his environment.

See Detail

The Sounds of 7am 2023

Making Mao

When the Communist Party took over China in 1949, it engineered a massive propaganda effort to win over the people's hearts and minds. MAKING MAO revisits the people and events responsible for making Mao Zedong the star of this cultural phenomenon. It was an artistic yet brutal onslaught of images and slogans that lasted over 25 years and kept him in power. Yet while Mao was celebrated as a God by most, those who did not abide became victimes. Our story examines what created and perpetuated this mass hysteria, and revisits the art that would both shape and nearly destroy a nation.

See Detail

Making Mao 2009

Roger & Me

A documentary about the closure of General Motors' plant at Flint, Michigan, which resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs. Details the attempts of filmmaker Michael Moore to get an interview with GM CEO Roger Smith.

See Detail

Roger & Me 1989