California State University, Northridge experts in climate change and political science will be featured in The Cross of the Moment — a documentary about climate change by Jacob Freydont-Attie — at the International Film Festival from April 28 to May 1 at the NoHo Arts Center Theatre in North Hollywood.

CSUN professor David Klein, head of CSUN’s climate science program, and Roger Carasso, professor emeritus in political science and a CSUN alumnus, were interviewed for the documentary.

“Roger is an acquaintance of my father’s and I’ve been on his political email list for some time,” said documentarist Freydont-Attie. “I have admired his strong socialist values and deep knowledge of classical political theory.”

Both professors contributed their knowledge about the fields of their expertise to the documentary and answered philosophical questions about climate change, existence, and political and economic systems.

“David was recommended to me by a mutual acquaintance who is very active in climate change circles,” he added. “When I saw that he bridged the science and politics gap, with an interest in eco-socialism, I figured he would also be perfect for the film.”

Klein, who published the book Capitalism & Climate Change: The Science and Politics of Global Warming, said the main challenge for him was to explain the issues as simply as possible due to the complexity of the entire topic.

“We definitely need more education, especially in the United States,” Klein said. “There’s been a concerted propaganda campaign to deny the existence of global warming. People should watch this film because of the imminence of the climate catastrophe — the steps that have to be taken to avert it require a huge amount of cooperation among people.”

Freydont-Attie said he was passionate about creating a documentary that addresses climate change and the fate of civilization in not only a scientific, but also a philosophical way.

“Climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced,” Freydont-Attie said. “We risk the collapse of civilization, or worse, if we don’t start addressing the deep structural problems of capitalism immediately.”

The director said he appreciates the broad availability of low-cost, high-quality video equipment and editing software in the digital age. He encourages students and young filmmakers to use available tools that are particularly suitable for documentary filmmaking. Visitors of the upcoming International Film Festival can get a peek into the use of such tools.

“I haven’t seen the film with a full-house audience yet,” he said. “I hope some CSUN students come out and see what can be done with [digital] tools.”

For more information on the International Film Festival North Hollywood visit http://iffnoho.com/ or purchase tickets under https://www.squadup.com/events/international-film-festival-north-hollywood/checkout.

Climate Change, Environment, Film Festival, North Hollywood