Manufacturing Ignorance

Nov 23, 2020

1h 37m

★ 7.6

Overview

Tobacco, climate change, pesticides,... Never has scientific knowledge seemed so vast, detailed and shared. And yet it appears to be increasingly challenged. It is no longer surprising to see private corporations put strategies in place to confuse the public debate and paralyze political decision-making. Overwhelmed by excess of information, how can we, as citizens, sort out fact from fiction? One by one, this film dismantles the workings of this clever manoeuvre that aims to turn science against itself. Thanks to declassified archives, graphic animations and testimonies from experts, lobbyists and politicians, this investigation plunges us into the science of doubt. Along with a team of experts (philosophers, economists, cognitive scientists, political men, or even agnotologists), we explore concrete examples of doubt making and try to understand the whole process and the issues behind it.

Genres

Documentary

TV Movie

Production Companies

ZED

ARTE

France Télévisions

RTS

AMC Networks International Iberia

RTBF

Télé-Québec

Manufacturing Ignorance Trailers

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Pascal Vasselin

Herself

Fani Hatjina

Himself

Matthias Groß

Herself

Linsey McGoey

Herself

Naomi Oreskes

Himself

Stéphane Foucart

Herself (archive footage)

Catherine Collinet

Himself

Stanton A. Glantz

Himself

Yves Gingras

Himself

Stephan Lewandowsky

Himself

Marcel Goldberg

Himself

Carlos Sonnenschein

A pensioner Petr Černý runs an amateur internet TV and twice a week he broadcasts conspiracy and anti-immigration news. During seven years of his broadcasting he has become an important spokesperson of the part of the society. At the same time, Petr Černý is also a proponent of cosmic mysticism and last but not least a generous person with deep human solidarity. Is it possible to understand a person who cosmically stays on top of things but at the same time refuses the changes that are happening in the current world, and not to make a fool out of him?

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