One Point Five
Estimated completion: 2026
One Point Five is a cinema verité geopolitical thriller that follows key climate diplomats and activists as they fight to save the planet and deliver climate and environmental justice. If they can’t keep global temperature increases below 1.5 degrees celsius, it will be too late to preserve life on Earth as we know it.
About the Film
The climate crisis is upon us. Seemingly each day, we hear of a new storm, a new flood, a new fire; a temperature barrier shattered, another scientific tipping point toward all-out calamity passed, more images of communities wrecked by havoc. Are we destined to mutely watch as this catastrophe accelerates, until our planet is no longer habitable?
Despite it all, hope is not yet lost. Every year, a tenacious group gathers to try and turn the tide, against all odds, and limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This collection of ministers, diplomats, business leaders, scientists, and activists convenes at the massive United Nations-sanctioned COP (Conference of the Parties) events to generate solutions and negotiate treaties that can, in fact, save humanity. It is the most significant, critical, and truly global diplomatic effort ever undertaken. Shot over three years and across six continents, One Point Five is an immersive, deep-access documentary that takes viewers around the world and deep inside these conversations for the very first time.
Primary theme:
Climate Mitigation & Adaptation
Additional themes:
Democracy & Bridging Values, Justice
Director
Director
Producer
Producer
Producer
Full Project Budget:
$6,463,791
Funds Still Needed:
$760,791
Type of Funding Needed:
Post-Production, Impact
Production Status:
Post-Production
Impact Goals
Reality
Climate change is real, it is happening now, and every country—including corporations that once denied it—is part of the global effort to address it. Our film needs to re-raise awareness around the dangers/impacts of climate change that has been waning within the U.S. for years.
Transparency
Too much of the diplomatic process remains hidden. Our deep-access storytelling will foster public trust in the people doing this work, while offering pathways for activists and citizens to engage more meaningfully.
Democracy
Most of our protagonists are government officials who serve at the will of the people. Every vote should be a climate vote. We aim to make that connection explicit.
Director’s Statement
Alexandra Kerry
Director
Jeff Reichert
Director
Now ten, Alex’s eldest daughter was two years old when the Paris Treaty was signed in April 2016. Alex remembers Isabelle sitting with her grandfather, studying him closely, as he signed his name into the international agreement. As she was carried off stage, she complained she hadn’t signed her own name which she had just learned to write.
There was so much hope for the world as 174 countries came together that day, but looking back, we took much of the promise inherent in those signatures for granted. The surprising political and policy narrative that has since transpired has not only shaken many of us but also challenged us to do better. Alex’s memory of her daughter, and her daughter’s grandfather, now takes on a very different meaning and motivated many of the questions at the beginning of the film. Is diplomacy a lost art? How will America reengage with the climate conversation? What will it take to save humanity against the ticking clock of 1.5 degrees?
Jeff began working with Alex coming off the production of American Factory and on the cusp of becoming a father himself. We share a question and curiosity about the future which drives much of the passion behind the film. We are two filmmakers excited by the power of well-crafted verité filmmaking to communicate vast global changes and both think deeply about the future.
Read More
Too few voters understand that the issues driving their decisions—economic anxiety, threats to democracy, national security, immigration—are deeply shaped by a rapidly changing climate. If we can mitigate the worst effects of climate change, we reduce economic stress, slow climate-driven migration, strengthen global security, and weaken the autocratic forces that exploit instability to erode democratic institutions. Yet, on his first day back in office, President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement for the second time, signaling a retreat from global climate leadership at a critical moment.
Climate is not one issue among many. It is the issue—and One Point Five is built to make that undeniable.
Through its truly global and human-centered lens, One Point Five brings audiences deep inside climate negotiations, revealing the urgency, complexity, and stakes of this work. Like An Inconvenient Truth in 2006—which measurably shifted public awareness and personal behavior—we believe this film can become a focal point for climate organizing in a new political era. Our goal is to depoliticize climate and present it as a unifying, whole-of-earth issue.
To learn more about this project, reach out to nkite@redfordcenter.org and we will put you in touch with the film team.