Paris was great…

by Franke James

C’est fantastique! Our “Gasoline Breakup” video won us a free trip to Paris for @MobileFilmFest sponsored by @UNFCCC & @YouTube!! But should we go?? Is this a Once-in-a-Lifetime-Opportunity-that-Our-Song-Won-a-Trip-to-Paris??

Uh, quite likely…We have been great carbon-cutters… We sold our only car 12 years ago, but still… To assuage our guilt we bought 9.198 tonnes CO2e of Gold Standard-Certified International Offsets from Less, a @bullfrogpower company. (Phew!) And we’re going!!

Franke James, Co-director and co-songwriter, of the music video, “Gasoline Breakup” in Paris on December 3, 2019 for the Mobile Film Festival ACT Now on Climate Change. (Thanks to Håkan Julander for the photo!)

Mobile Film Festival hosted a welcome event on Dec 2. It was fun and fascinating to meet the other filmmakers from 24 countries creating mobile films calling for action on climate change.

Filmmakers, Håkan Julander (Sweden) with Jennifer Casadessus from the Mobile Film Fesitval team and David Murad (Brazil).

The Mobile Film Festival took place at the MK2 Bibliotheque in Paris, France. The venue was perfect for the showing of the 50 selected films.

The Mobile Film Festival ACT NOW was done in partnership with the UNFCC and YouTube. This year the theme was climate change. In 2018 it was human rights. Next year, it will be about women’s empowerment.

The Mobile Film Festival selected 50 one-minute mobile films from 24 countries. The red areas on the map show the selected countries.

Declaration by David Murad (Brazil) is a statement on the destruction of the Amazon. Timely and important.

Synopsis: Two best buddy bottles while on “Vacation” find themselves on an unknown beach and to their surprise find an old friend who’s had quite the journey of his own to get there. Directed by: Christopher Axworthy & Robert Peacock; Country: Great Britain

Synopsis: Professor Arrhenius and his colleague enjoy drinks in the afternoon when Mr. Arrhenius gets prophetic visions of the future. Overstrung by the impact, he understands what force humanity must resist to survive. Directed by Håkan Julander & Björn Engström; Country : Sweden

Synopsis: Gasoline Breakup: Our love affair with gasoline is over. And it’s time for a breakup song. Directed by: Franke James & Billiam James; Executive Producer: Matthew Metz, Coltura; Sound production: David Tallarico; Country: Canada

Sing along to Gasoline Breakup:

You took me for a ride, and now we’re lost
I’m choking on your pollution trip
You’re making me cough…You’re turning me off
I’m breaking this relationship
Gasoline, gasoline, you’re driving me insane
Gasoline, gasoline, the world’s aflame
Gasoline, gasoline, I found someone new
Someone better, better than you
We had a good run but now we’re done
You’re poisoning our atmosphere
You don’t even care, pumping dirt in our air
We gotta leave you in the ground
Gasoline, gasoline, you’re driving me insane.
Gasoline, gasoline, the world’s aflame.
Gasoline, gasoline, I found someone new
And I’m leaving…leaving you.

Sisters Teresa Pocock and Franke James wearing matching souvenirs from Paris.

Sadly, my sister Teresa flip-flopped on flying to Paris. I had to leave to catch the flight — and made it with 10 minutes to spare. (Phew!) When I landed, I got a voicemail from her that she was finally ready to come to Paris — but it was too late. (Teresa has flown lots of places, most recently to Mexico, Boston, and New York so her reluctance was unexpected.)

“Paris was great, until…” Ha Ha! This direct mail ad from Travel Guard is so ironic… I had purchased Travel Guard’s trip cancellation insurance in November when I bought our tickets to Paris. In perfect timing, the ad arrived the same day as our flight to Paris. We’ve filed a claim for Teresa’s canceled flight but we don’t know if they will be compassionate about Teresa’s unexpected reluctance to fly that day. I’ll let you know!!

Three months later…
On March 3, 2020 we received the refund cheque from Travel Guard. We’re pleased that our claim was honored as it reflects sensitivity to the rights of people with developmental disabilities for inclusion — and the challenges of helping such individuals to lead full lives.

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