Interview with Filmmaker Peter McGrain

Anyone who values freedom and the sacredness of life, has uncertainties about the current direction of society, should absolutely see “How To Change the World…The Movie.”
Interview with Filmmaker Peter McGrain
Peter Gathje in 2005.
7/9/2009
Updated:
10/1/2015

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/pete.jpg" alt="Filmmaker Peter McGrain. (Courtesy of Peter McGrain)" title="Filmmaker Peter McGrain. (Courtesy of Peter McGrain)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1827443"/></a>
Filmmaker Peter McGrain. (Courtesy of Peter McGrain)
LOS ANGELES—Anyone who values freedom and the sacredness of life, has uncertainties about the current direction of society, or feels hopeless and frustrated with the status quo, should absolutely see How To Change the World…The Movie.

And for those not particularly concerned with these matters—this film should be mandatory viewing.

“We live in a universe of unfathomable scale and incredible beauty. This really is a universe of infinite possibilities,” begins the narration by writer/director Peter McGrain, against majestic images of the cosmos and a luminous shot of a fetus in the uterus.

McGrain’s film sets out to establish what has gone wrong in the world, urging his audience, “to keep an open mind, but question everything.”

With erudite content and earnest narration, How To Change The World appeals to both mind and heart. Influential thinkers, including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Samuel Epstein, expound on the enmeshment of our modern society’s power structures. Government, media, and the private sector in the United States no longer provide the needed checks and balances originally intended by the founding fathers, thus putting freedom in question.
 
McGrain formulates a persuasive and chilling portrait of our future while urging us to put aside our collective complacency and hopelessness and reengage in the political process.

I sat down with McGrain at a popular writer’s café a few blocks from Venice Beach to discuss his film. The eloquent 40-something filmmaker, with Clint Eastwood confidence and Mick Jagger swagger, expressed his earnest ardor in Irish brogue.

“I don’t look at the world as an Irishman,” says McGrain who grew up witnessing conflict, violence, and “unnecessary suffering” in Ireland.

“I left Ireland a long time ago,” asserts McGrain who has since traveled the globe meeting people from all cultures and continents. “I am a man of the world, able to make better decisions about my world.

“If you look around the world and see all this turmoil, it begs the question, why?”

McGrain examined the mechanisms to understand ‘why’—issues he believes are systemic. What has McGrain learned from the process of making this film?

“I’m trying to be a journalist, and being a proper journalist means you have to take as many perspectives as you can possibly get,” explains McGrain who now has a greater appreciation for the nuances and complexity of the issues.

“You get a more balanced perspective of the truth of the issue and a more colored sense of how complex it is.”

No longer satisfied to produce work for the sole purpose of entertainment, McGrain is committed to creating work that truly can elevate the human condition. For this reason, he created an interactive Web site offering comprehensive information—a key component to How to Change the World...The Movie.

“You can’t change or address the systems unless you know what forces are working against you,” summarizes the filmmaker.

To view the film, visit www.howtochangetheworldthemovie.com