Feeling the Apocalypse
A psychotherapist struggling with climate anxiety explores what it means to live in a dying world.
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Anderson ToddInterviewee
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Chen Sing YapDirector
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Nikolai OsbornProducer
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Tarneem AllatiDirector of Photography
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Sarah SaundersTransmedia
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Rebecca FossComposers
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Leah HidalgoComposers
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Dominick De VillonSound Editor
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Chen Sing YapEditor
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Holly De VaalAssistant Producers
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Poppi Fella PellegrinoAssistant Producers
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Laura JohnstonAssistant Producers
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Victoria McGlynnSpecial Thanks
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Ruby DaviesBackground Art
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Rowan Mikolic-O'RourkeAnimation & Art
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Jean Carlo LaitonLocalization
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María del Pino AínsaLocalization
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Alexa Thobo-CarlsenLocalization
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Project Type:Animation, Documentary, Short, Student
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Genres:Environmental, Animation, Documentary, Climate change
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Runtime:7 minutes 2 seconds
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Completion Date:January 2, 2022
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Production Budget:40 USD
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Country of Origin:Canada
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Country of Filming:Canada
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:4:3
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:Yes - Sheridan College
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Canadian Film FestSuper Channel (screened for 1 day, geo-blocked to Canada)
Canada
March 26, 2022
World Premiere
Official Selection -
International Environmental Film FestivalBuenos Aires
Argentina
June 1, 2022
South American Premiere
Official Selection -
Oakville Festivals of Film and ArtOakville, Ontario
Canada
June 25, 2022
Ontario Premiere
Runner Up, Best Student Film -
International Alexandria Short Film FestivalAlexandria, Imathia
Greece
June 29, 2022
European Premiere
Official Selection -
Smaragdni Eco Film FestivalBicycle tour through Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina
August 23, 2022
Premieres in the following countries: Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Official Selection -
Mighty Niagara Film FestivalSt Catharines, Ontario
Canada
August 27, 2022
Niagara Premiere
Official Selection -
Edmonton International Film FestivalEdmonton, Alberta
Canada
September 24, 2022
Western Canada Premiere
Official Selection -
Durham Region International Film FestivalOshawa
Canada
October 1, 2022
Oshawa Premiere
Best Student Film -
Chatham-Kent International Film FestivalChatham-Kent, Ontario
Canada
October 1, 2022
Chatham-Kent Premiere
Official Selection -
EKOFILM International Environmental Film FestivalBrno
Czech Republic
October 12, 2022
Czech Republic Premiere
Official Selection -
SCAD Savannah Film FestivalSavannah, Georgia
United States
October 29, 2022
US Premiere
Global Shorts: Jury Award for Unique Storytelling -
SUNCINE: Barcelona International Environmental Film FestivalBarcelona
Spain
November 2, 2022
Spanish Premiere
Official Selection -
Forest City Film FestivalLondon, Ontario
Canada
October 21, 2022
London Premiere
Official Selection -
New West Film FestNew Westminster
Canada
October 23, 2022
British Columbia Premiere
Official Selection -
Vancouver Asian Film FestivalVancouver
Canada
November 5, 2022
Vancouver Premiere
Official Selection -
Sustainable Living Film FestivalIstanbul
Turkey
November 22, 2022
Turkey Premiere
Official Selection -
Hamilton Film FestivalHamilton, Ontario
Canada
November 8, 2022
Hamilton Premiere
Official Selection -
#NarrarElFuturo 2022Bogota
Colombia
November 8, 2022
Columbia Premiere
Official Selection -
Slow Film FestRome
Italy
November 20, 2022
Italian Premiere
Official Selection (FINCA) -
Green Fest
Bosnia and Herzegovina
November 21, 2022
Official Selection -
Gimme Some TruthWinnipeg
Canada
December 7, 2022
Manitoba Premiere
Official Selection -
CinecoAlicante
Spain
December 10, 2022
Official Selection -
Wild & ScenicNevada City
United States
February 16, 2023
California Premiere
Szabo Award -
Colorado Environmental Film FestivalGolden
United States
February 26, 2023
Colorado Premiere
Official Selection -
American Conservation Film FestivalShepherdstown
United States
April 22, 2023
West Virginia
Best Student Film -
Belleville Downtown DocfestBelleville, Ontario
Canada
March 4, 2023
Official Selection -
Les Bois Film FestivalBoise
United States
April 8, 2023
Idaho Premiere
Official Selection
Chen Sing Yap grew up in Singapore, where he worked as a picture editor in factual television for 4 years. He gravitated toward long-form documentaries that covered topics such as dementia, poverty, and conservation. In 2019 he moved to Oakville, Canada where he began directing short films. Currently, he is in his final year of Sheridan College's Bachelor of Film and Television degree program. In recent years Chen Sing’s attention has turned sharply towards the issue of social, economic, and ecosystem collapse, and how these larger issues affect the lives of everyday people. In 2020, his short film “Shift”, about the mental health toll of COVID-19 on a nurse, won First Prize at the International Students Creative Award in Osaka, Japan. He has also experimented with stop-motion animation in “Feeling the Apocalypse”, a short documentary about managing climate anxiety. Chen Sing’s current goal is to create work that helps people put words to the terrible existential dread we often feel but rarely address.
When you talk to most people about this stuff, even people who do not deny climate change or it's effects, they don't want to look into the abyss. They would rather go on with their lives, business as usual, with the assumption that the "end" will come suddenly and swiftly, with them having no way to affect the outcome of their personal lives. Either all life on Earth will be extinguished dramatically or we'll fix it with magical technology.
I think part of the problem is that we've been led to assume that a collapsing or post-collapse world is one not worth living in. That if climate change isn't reversible then there's no point preparing for it or caring, that it is meaningless. And so we shy away from having very important conversations with our friends and families. That's one of the fundamental aspects of the conversation I want to change - the wrongful idea that full acknowledgement of the effects of the climate crisis is defeatist. We can have hope without resorting to toxic optimism.