Without a doubt one of the most awesome, coolest, and sought-after actors working at the moment, Ryan Gosling earned his second producing credit (after exec. producing Blue Valentine) on Phillip Montgomery’s documentary, #ReGENERATION, and lended his voice to narrate the project too.

A new trailer for the documentary has now surfaced, showing Gosling’s narration as well as the various interviews featured, including conversations with Noam Chomsky, Talib Kweli, Kalle Lasn, the late Howard Zinn, and many more.

“Beyond the labels of “Generation X” and “Generation Y,” the feature documentary film ReGeneration takes an uncompromising look at the issues facing today’s youth and young adults, and the influences that perpetuate our culture’s apathetic approach to social and political causes.

Focused on how today’s education, parenting, and media can shape us, the film follows three separate walks of life representing today’s generation. Each brings their own unique perspective – from an inspired collective of musicians working outside the corporate system, to a twenty-something conservative family about to welcome the birth of their second child, and a group of five high-school students from the suburbs looking for their place in society. Their stories are interspersed with the knowledge, wisdom, and personal reflections of some of the country’s leading scholars, social activists, and media personalities, including Andrew Bacevich, Noam Chomsky, Talib Kweli, and the late Howard Zinn, among others.

Within the film, the discussion of apathy found in today’s generation leads to exploration of technology, our disconnection with nature, how much we consume, our loss of history, and the economic factors holding many of us back from becoming more active participants in our communities. With such a varied and intelligent group of interviews, we come to a deeper understanding of the numerous influences shaping today’s culture where one universal feeling is shared – our society is at a crossroads, economically, environmentally, and intellectually – and we must change ourselves and the world for the better.

REGENERATION IS THE STORY OF TODAY’S GENERATION …
IT IS THE STORY OF US.”

Personally, I think I’d agree with what looks to the basic precept of Montgomery’s documentary up to a point, but only so far. Apathy may well be the perceived current mood of many nations’ youth, but at the same time, it seems like too much of a sweeping stereotype in my books. Nonetheless, especially given Gosling’s involvement in the project, I’m intrigued to see how it turns out.

If you’d like to see more clips of the film, including snippets of the various interviews, you can head over to the film’s official website here. Just click on the names to see a little more footage.

#ReGENERATION is set to get a limited release in the US on 3rd May, and will be available via VoD, as well as in theatres across the States via crowd-sourced screenings at Tugg.com (if you’d like to try and arrange a screening near you). Here in the UK, I’d imagine that we’ll have to wait a little while longer before we see it in digital/physical form, but hopefully it will be coming in some way/shape/form before long.


Ryan Gosling’s ‘ReGeneration’ Trailer

Source: Huffington Post, via Thompson on Hollywood.