Speaker Biography
He is the director and co-producer of the 2015 feature documentary This Changes Everything, inspired by the New York Times bestselling book of the same name by Naomi Klein. Filmed in nine countries and five continents over four years, the film asks a provocative question: what if confronting the climate crisis is the best chance we’ll ever get to build a better world? This Changes Everything premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically worldwide; it has since been shown in more than 1300 community screenings around the world and has been translated into 20 languages to date.
His first documentary, The Take (2004), followed Argentina’s legendary movement of worker-run businesses. It premiered at the Venice Biennale and was released theatrically in Canada, the U.S., and across Europe. It won the International Jury prize at the American Film Institute festival in Los Angeles. It has also been shown in worker-occupied factories from Thessaloniki to Johannesburg, Chicago to Cairo.
In 2008, Avi Lewis co-created and became the longtime host of Fault Lines, an acclaimed weekly documentary series on Al Jazeera English Television.
He also hosted a series of current affairs and political talk shows on CBC Television and hosted City TV’s landmark syndicated music journalism show “The New Music.” At the same time, he was MuchMusic’s Political Specialist, pioneering political “uncoverage” for a youth audience in Canada.
He is the Strategic Director and Co-Founder of the Leap, an organization launched in 2017 to upend our collective response to the crises of climate, inequality and racism.
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