Angélique Kidjo is joining forces with Yann Arthus-Bertrand and the GoodPlanet Foundation to spread a global message with the short film MOTHER NATURE: save the planet and protect the environment.
A true ode to Planet Earth, this politically-motivated film directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand & Baptiste Rouget-Luchaire will be aesthetically pleasing, powerful, and striking.

All of Angélique Kidjo's royalties, rights, as well as additional campaign profits generated by the song MOTHER NATURE will be donated in full to the Yann Arthus-Bertrand Foundation, GoodPlanet. Its goal: to preserve our planet, to raise as much awareness as possible for environmental causes, and to support environmental projects all over the world.

Angélique Kidjo and Yann Arthus Bertrand met in 2009 during the United Nations 'Seal The Deal' campaign: Angelique's voice was joined to the Yann Arthus’ images.

MOTHER NATURE is the name of Angélique Kidjo's next album to be released in June 2021 and the title of her new worldwide tour in 2021/2022.

MOTHER NATURE is also the title of one of its strongest songs, a stand-out groovy single single with an afro-beat groove, packing a punch, sung in English and in the Fon language: "Mother Nature has a way of warning us / A time bomb set on a lost countdown / Will you find it, will you stop it, will you listen? “ Can we not accept the gifts that "mother earth" offers us, without causing permanent damage?

MOTHER NATURE sets the tone for an album that is a passing of the torch between Angélique Kidjo, one African power’s flames, and the young new turbulent generation of artists, especially Nigerians, such as Burna Boy, Yemi Alade or Mr Easi, who’ve set out to conquer the international charts.

This song MOTHER NATURE must distinguish itself through a film: a short, global, engaged, trans-generational, musically energetic, and aesthicially inspiring film to carry its message far and wide.
Therefore, it was only natural that Angélique Kidjo turn to Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Passionate about ecology and humanism, the photographer and filmmaker is also the creator of the GOODPLANET foundation.

Recognized as serving public interest, The Foundation’s objectives are to place ecology and humanism at the heart of people’s consciousness and to arouse the desire to take concrete action for the Earth and its inhabitants.

Be part of the family that changes the world and help us finance the film Mother Nature!

The film MOTHER NATURE—directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Baptiste Rouget-Luchaire who has worked alongside him for many years—will be a hymn, both in song and in dance, to Mother Nature by featuring the artist and citizens (fans) from three continents dancing together to celebrate her and call for her protection.

This film will be shot in France and in Benin. It is in order to be able to shoot the images in Benin that we are crowdfunding.
The goal of the campaign is to raise 5,000 Euros to cover all production costs abroad.

It will take up Yann Arthus-Betrand’s beloved aesthetic of portraits set against a backdrops outdoors. This highly distilled visual imagery has become one of the director-photographer’s trademarks, especially in his photo projects such as “Les Chevaux” and in his latest films, including “Woman”.
We wish to weave these portraits against backdrops with wider-shots that reveal spectacular, urban and natural landscapes.

Angélique Kidjo and some citizens (fans) chosen for their diversity within the three countries will perform the same choreography to the rhythm of the song “Mother Nature.” They will all stand in front of the mounted tarpaulin backdrops in majestic exteriors that will be revealed in wide shots. The alternating between tight shots in portrait mode and wide shots will set the pace in film’s editing.

Winner of four Grammy Awards, the singer behind “Batonga,” “Agolo,” and “Mama Africa” moved to the United States at the end of the 1990s, after having had fled to France in 1983 to escape the dictatorial Marxist regime of Matthieu Kérékou. This energetic and forceful woman is the successor to apartheid opponent Myriam Makeba—a long-time refugee in the United States—and Black activist Nina Simone.

Angélique Kidjo was born in Cotonou, Benin. From her childhood dotted with sacred forests, medicinal plants, and respect for natural elements, Angélique always retained a deep love of Nature.

Energetic, talkative, determined, it was only logic that she go to Copenhagen in 2009, where 100,000 demonstrators marched in front of the Danish Parliament during the COP 15, chanting: "There is no planet B". Obviously, she then joined the COP 21 as a guest star in 2015 in Paris, because, as she explained, the collateral damage is immense: “On my continent, it is the children who bear the brunt of this climate change crisis. The future generation will pay the heaviest price of climate change ”.

Having had inherited the artistic struggles of Myriam Makeba or Nina Simone, this artist with an exceptional voice has performed on major stages across the globe (Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Sydney Opera House, Cours d'Honneur at the Avignon Festival, etc.). She shares her music—be it African or that of Philip Glass, the Talking Heads or Celia Cruz—all while never ceasing to take part the United Nations Environment Program, Oxfam or Unicef campaigns.

Born in 1946, Yann Arthus-Bertrand has always been passionate about the animal world and natural spaces. Very quickly, the camera become his tool to record his observations in addition to writing.
In 1992, Yann launched his seminal photography project on the state of the world and its inhabitants: EARTH FROM ABOVE.

Continuing in his commitment to the environmental cause, Yann later creates the GoodPlanet Foundation. In May 2017, with his foundation Yann opens the first space dedicated to ecology and humanism in Paris: “Le Domaine de Longchamp,” located in the heart of the Bois de Boulogne. “Le Domaine” offers a free space for experimentation with politically-motivated works, encounters and sharing, all coming together to convey what it’s like to live in a generous eco-system.
It is this endeavour that, in 2009, earned him the appointment of “Goodwill Ambassador” for the United Nations Environment Program.

He then began directing several documentaries on the environment and humanism: “HOME” in 2009, “PLANET OCEAN” co-directed by Michael Pitiot in 2011, “A THIRSTY WORLD” in 2012, “HUMAN” in 2015 and “TERRA” the same year.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s newest challenge, co-directing “WOMAN” with Anastasia Mikova, came out on March 4, 2020. This film is entirely devoted to women around the world and sparked more than 3 years of filming, visits to 60 countries, and recording of thousands of interviews.

After the release of the film "LEGACY" in January 2021, he is currently working on a new project: "FRANCE, A LOVE STORY."

Trained in film technology at New York University and then in screenwriting at the Femis Institute, Baptiste Rouget-Luchaire has been an author and film director for 20 years.

In 2000, following the release of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's book “Earth From Above,” he made his first documentary about the birth of ecological awareness. He then directed the documentary project “6 BILLION D’AUTRES” during 5 years which, upon its completion, culminated in the creation of a masterful video exhibit at the Grand Palais in 2009.

He continued his career by making a film for the COP-15 in Copenhagen in which he documents encounters with the first climate migrants from around the world. He then directed the feature-length documentary “A Thirsty World” for France 2, which addressed global issues related to freshwater. His association with Yann Arthus-Bertrand extends in particular to documentary projects HUMAN and WOMAN, released in theatres in March 2020. In parallel with his career as a documentary filmmaker, Baptiste Rouget-Luchaire has directed numerous short films for artists, companies, and foundations, without ever renouncing what underlies all of his work: his environmental and humanist commitments.

He is currently working on two new projects: a documentary film on the 150 citizens of the Citizen's Convention for Climate, and on a fictional feature film that he wrote and which he is currently in casting, “We Do Not Die Of Love".

with the support of SACEM

MOTHER NATURE support the Angelique Kidjo's short film with Yann Arthus-Bertrand

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