DVD Release: The Island President

DVD Release Date: Nov. 13, 2012
Price: DVD $27.95
Studio: First Run Features

Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives.

The 2011 documentary film The Island President looks at Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives, and his attempts to save his nation from the recent changes in the climate and sea level.

The fourth president of the Maldives from 2008 to 2012, Nasheed put some serious time and effort into handling the threat posed to the very low-lying Maldive Island (1,200 of them!) by climate and sea level changes reportedly caused by global warming. The Island President examines how Nasheed pledged to set an example by making the Maldives carbon-neutral within a decade by moving to wind and solar power and how he  presided over the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting in October, 2009, with the participants meeting underwater in scuba gear. The following month, Nasheed founded the Climate Vulnerable Forum, an association of countries affected disproportionately by climate change.

Directed by Jon Shenk (Lost Boys of Sudan), The Island President was filmed throughout 2009 and 2010—and a lot has gone down since then! Most notably, an alliance opposing Nasheed and his government was formed in December 2011 which included all the parties that supported the President in his 2008. This led to Nasheed resigning from office in February, 2012 amidst growing protests and and the threat of military forces joining the opposition.

Nasheed’s current status notwithstanding, The Island President received raves from the critics upon its limited release to U.S. theaters in March, 2012. It also won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Int’l. Film Festival in September, 2011.

The DVD contains an interview with director Shenk as a bonus feature.
 

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