Vic Barret was just 12-years-old when Hurricane Sandy hammered his native New York City. “It’s easy to feel like nature can’t really touch you when you’re in a concrete city. But in that moment, I realized the actions that perpetuate climate change were a direct cause of how that storm affected us.” Since then, Vic has spoken to the United Nations, testified before Congress, and become one of 21 plaintiffs on the landmark U.S. constitutional climate change lawsuit Juliana v United States.

His message has traveled far, but he has one important audience he still struggles to reach: his own father.

We Have Reached the Moment follows Vic’s journey as he tries to explain to his climate-denying father the impacts of the climate crisis on their own disenfranchised communities. Adding to this deeply emotional challenge is Vic’s concurrent gender transition, shifting their relationship from father-daughter to father-son, for which there is no instructional manual. Vic ultimately, like any son or daughter, desires unconditional acceptance, love, and support from his parent… but how do we connect with loved ones when their belief systems undermine our very identity and right to a healthy future?

An Emmy-award winning cinematographer with a PhD in Neuroscience and an MS in Microbiology, Christi communicates complex issues through storytelling and visual narrative to create human connection and impact around the most pressing issues of our time. She left a successful academic and research career in Europe to obtain an MFA in Science & Natural History Filmmaking (graduate thesis: Contemporary Advocacy Filmmaking: Campaigns for Change). In 2011, Christi co-created Stories of TRUST: Calling for Climate Recovery, a 10-part documentary series featuring youth plaintiffs suing their state governments over climate change, with WITNESS, a social justice/human rights organization focused on using film for social change. The campaign was used to reach decision-makers and judges who were ruling on climate litigation brought to the courts by young people. She most recently directed and produced the feature documentary “YOUTH v GOV,” which premiered at DocNYC (2020) and was selected as the Centerpiece Film for 2021 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Her film awards include Wildscreen’s Panda Award for Best Campaign Film, Best Environmental Film from Backcountry Film Festival, Best Youth Film from Colorado Environmental Film Festival, and Best Made in Montana from the International Wildlife Film Festival, among others. Christi is the inaugural SFFilm/Vulcan Productions Environmental Film Fellow and the first Jacob Burns Film Center Focus on Nature Artist-in-Resident.