The Island President 2011
Previous FilmsJon Shenk’s THE ISLAND PRESIDENT is the story of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced: the literal survival of his country and everyone in it. After bringing democracy to the Maldives after thirty years of despotic rule, Nasheed is now faced with an even greater challenge: as one of the most low-lying countries in the world, a rise of three feet in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the Maldives enough to make them uninhabitable.
THE ISLAND PRESIDENT captures Nasheed’s first year of office, culminating in his trip to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009, where the film provides a rare glimpse of the political horse-trading that goes on at such a top-level global assembly. Nasheed is unusually candid about revealing his strategies: leveraging the Maldives’ underdog position as a tiny country, harnessing the power of media, and overcoming deadlocks through an appeal to unity with other developing nations. When hope fades for a written accord to be signed, Nasheed makes a stirring speech which salvages an agreement. Despite the modest size of his country, Mohamed Nasheed has become one of the leading international voices for urgent action on climate change.
The Filmmakers
Jon Shenk, Director + Director of Photography
Jon Shenk is an award-winning director and cinematographer based in San Francisco, California. Most recently, Shenk directed and photographed THE ISLAND PRESIDENT, which won Best Documentary at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Shenk was the DP for the Academy Award- winning SMILE PINKI (2009) and won an Emmy for BLAME SOMEBODY ELSE (2007, PBS/EXPOSÉ). Shenk directed and photographed LOST BOYS OF SUDAN, Independent Spirit Award winner in 2004 and he co-directed and photographed DEMOCRACY AFGHAN STYLE (2004). Early in his career, he directed and photographed THE BEGINNING (1999), a chronicle of George Lucas’s STAR WARS: EPISODE I.
Bonni Cohen, Director + Producer
Since co-founding Actual Films in 1998, Bonni Cohen has produced and directed an array of award-winning films, including THE ISLAND PRESIDENT, INSIDE GUANTANAMO, THE RAPE OF EUROPA, and WONDERS ARE MANY among many others. She recently Executive Produced 3.5 MINUTES, which has its premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and will air this Fall on HBO. She also executive produced ART AND CRAFT, which premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. Bonni is the co-founder of the Catapult Film Fund.