Movies to Save Our World

A critical reflection on the power of moviemaking to shape our collective imagination of better futures

Through a close analysis of more than seventy popular documentaries and feature movies from around the world, produced in the twenty-first century, this book explores the theme of poverty, inequality, ecological degradation and revolutionary change, all associated with a contemporary crisis of neoliberal globalization in a world where it has become so pervasive. Profit rules, while poverty and inequality make the political ground fertile for populist manipulation. By returning power to the people, healthier forms of populism can lead the way to progressive revolutionary change that enriches democracy and corrects for social injustice. However, through ideological and political manipulation, populism can also take more debased authoritarian forms, promoting conformism, domination, exploitation, marginalization and degradation of humanity and its habitat.
The book urges progressive moviemakers to take advantage of advancements in digital technologies and to collaborate, in post-pandemic times, with educators to develop public deliberation skills and inspire a new generation of informed and compassionate change-makers.

About the Author

Kenneth Paul Tan is a tenured Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, which hired him under its Talent100 initiative in February 2021. He teaches and conducts interdisciplinary research at the Academy of Film, the Department of Journalism, and the Department of Government and International Studies. He is a member of the university's Smart Society Lab. Previously, he was a tenured Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He was the school's Vice Dean during the most rapid and critical years of its growth and served in its senior leadership team for almost a decade. He has received numerous teaching awards over the years, including NUS's most prestigious Outstanding Educator Award.

His books include Singapore- Identity, Brand, Power (Cambridge University Press, 2018), Governing Global-City Singapore- Legacies and Futures After Lee Kuan Yew (Routledge, 2017), Cinema and Television in Singapore- Resistance in One Dimension (Brill, 2008), and Renaissance Singapore? Economy, Culture, and Politics (NUS Press, 2007). He has also published numerous articles in leading international journals, reflecting an innovative and interdisciplinary research agenda that bridges Political Science, Public Management, Policy Studies, Sociology, Urban Studies, Cultural Studies, and Film and Media Studies. He is a member of the National Arts Council (Singapore)'s Arts Advisory Panel and the National Museum of Singapore's Advisory Board. He chairs the Board of Directors of theatre company The Necessary Stage (Singapore). And he was the founding chair of the Asian Film Archive's Board of Directors.