Another wonderful collaboration with Stéphane Goël and a first Nobel Prize winner in our line-up
After working successfully with Stéphane Goël previous feature documentary Islander, that premiered in 2018 at the 71st edition of Locarno Film Festival and was screened worldwide, we are delighted to join forces once more with a renowned Swiss director as world sales for his new documentary film Citizen Nobel.
In his latest work, Goël closely accompanies Jacques Dubochet , a retired Swiss biophysicist and environmental activist, after he had received a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2017 and his life changed forever. Former researcher at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, and an honorary professor of biophysics at the University of Lausanne, Jacquest Dubochet received the Nobel Prize for developing cryo-electron microscopy together with his fellow scientists Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson.
There are several emergencies at the heart of this story. The urgency of this old man’s fight against the time he has left. This Nobel Prize is an unexpected gift, a chance that should not be overused. Dubochet is obsessed with making good use of it, said Goël
Passing from shade to light, our main protagonist is solicited from all sides. What to do with his voice now heard by everyone? How to find its place and define the struggles to be waged? How to become a Citizen Nobel, with the aim of assuming responsibility as a researcher and a member of the human community?
Dubochet decides to focus its energy on three themes that seem to him decisive for the future of humanity: global warming, migration and the universal availability of scientific advances in the medical field… Dubochet talks a lot about the responsibility of his generation and the previous ones for the current state of the planet. He feels an immense burden vis-à-vis the current youth and he wants to use the few years that remain to him to try to “do better” or “correct” the mistakes – his mistakes – of the past, added Goël.
Produced by Emmanuel Gétaz for Dreampixies Sàrl, Citizen Nobel was presented for the first time as part of the official selection at Solothurn Film Festival in January 2020, where it was nominated for Prix de Soleure. Distributed by Agora Films in Switzerland, the film visited numerous places across French speaking cantons with special screenings in presence of filmmaker and Jacques Dubochet, before its theatrical run was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.
“He was an eminent researcher, participating in great discoveries. He is fighting today to teach researchers ethics before scientific subjects. He is therefore a man who is currently seeking a form of redemption. He seeks the forgiveness of young people for the misdeeds caused by his generation and he wants to fight alongside them to try to act where it is still possible.
That’s why a great film about this old man was necessary. Because it will touch people’s hearts, move them, entertain them, and above all make them think and question themselves. Isn’t that the essence of documentary cinema,” concludes Goël.
Review: Cineuropa
Tagged with: #Nobel Prize #climate change #portrait #science #Greta Thunberg #environment