New Documentary 'Juice: How Electricity Explains the World' Acquired by Gravitas Ventures
AUSTIN, Texas, April 16, 2020 (Newswire.com) - Gravitas Ventures, a Red Arrow Studios company, has acquired a new feature-length documentary, Juice: How Electricity Explains The World. www.juicethemovie.com
“Enlightening and powerful…”
“…a must-see for everyone.”
Poverty, women's’ rights, climate change — indeed, many of the world’s most pressing challenges — can be explained by answering one question: Can you turn your lights on in the morning?
Juice, starring author and journalist Robert Bryce, was produced and directed by Tyson Culver. The film shows how electricity explains everything from women’s rights and climate change to Bitcoin mining and indoor marijuana production. Over a three-year period, the Juice team traveled 60,000 miles to gather 40 on-camera interviews with people from seven countries on five continents.
“We face lots of tough challenges,” explains Bryce. “But the defining inequality in the world today is the chasm between the High-Watt and Low-Watt worlds; it’s the disconnect between the electricity rich and the electricity poor.” He continued, “Electricity inequality matters most to women and girls. Today, some 2.5 billion women around the world are still washing clothes by hand. Electricity frees women and girls from the pump, the stove, and the washtub.”
Over the last three decades, Bryce has published six books and more than 1,000 articles. His latest book, A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations, was written in tandem with the production of the film and was released on March 10 by PublicAffairs.
Tony Piantedosi, Vice President of Acquisitions for Gravitas, said Juice was “by turns informative, aggravating, moving, and instructive...the touchstones of a great documentary.”
Culver says that the goal of the film is to change the conversation. “Energy politics are tribal, and Robert and I come from different places politically. But access to electricity shouldn't be driven by politics - it's a humanitarian issue. ” Culver adds that “Anyone who talks about climate change without addressing energy poverty is just kicking the can down the road for the next generation to figure out.”
Producing the film required a lot of travel. Stops included Lebanon, India, Puerto Rico, Iceland, New York, and Colorado, which allowed Bryce to talk with engineers, authors, academics, and politicians, as well as regular people who are struggling to keep their lights on. During their three-year production effort, Bryce and Culver uncovered some staggering facts:
- About 3.3 billion people around the world are living in places where per-capita electricity use is less than what’s consumed by a typical American refrigerator.
- The power density inside a marijuana grow house is nearly equal to what’s found inside data centers run by companies like Amazon and Google.
- The average American uses as much electricity in three weeks as the average resident of India uses in a year.
Juice explains who has electricity, who’s getting it, and how developing countries all over the world are working to bring their people out of the dark and into the light. “The message of the film is simple,” says Bryce. “Darkness kills human potential. Electricity nourishes it.” Adds Culver, “Electricity does, in fact, explain the world. We’re going to show you how.”
Media Contact:
David Swofford
Phone: (512) 750-9098
Email: dswofford@conleyswoffordmedia.com
About Gravitas Ventures
Gravitas Ventures is a Cleveland-based independent film distributor that lets consumers find popular movies in theaters and on streaming platforms. With its multi-channel model, Gravitas releases over 300 films per year and has the ability to release a film in over one billion homes worldwide. Gravitas is a Red Arrow Studios company. For more information, please visit gravitasventures.com, or contact MaryKate McHugh: MaryKate@GravitasVentures.com.
About Robert Bryce
Robert has been writing – and talking – about energy for more than three decades. Bryce, based in Austin, Texas, is the author of six books on energy and innovation that have covered everything from Enron’s bankruptcy and the digitization of drilling rigs to nuclear energy and the future of batteries. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications, ranging from the Wall Street Journal to USA Today, and Atlantic Monthly to the New York Times. He has also appeared on a myriad of TV and radio shows ranging from Fox News to Al Jazeera. For more, see: www.robertbryce.com.
About Tyson Culver
Tyson is the co-founder of C2C Media, an Austin-based video production company. For the past 20 years, he has produced commercials and branded content for numerous national and international brands, including Whole Foods Market, Sonic Drive-In and The Home Depot. Tyson has been awarded 18 Pollie and Telly Awards, honoring the best political and advertising spots in film and television. For more on Tyson and C2C, see: www.c2cmecdia.tv.
Source: Juice: How Electricity Explains The World