Better Angels

Free screening 12/9 at Ahrya Fine Arts. Tickets available at box office, first come first served.

Five years in the making, BETTER ANGELS is the untold story of the true potential of the US-China relationship. Culled from 850 hours of footage shot across four continents, BETTER ANGELS explore how the world’s two largest superpowers are racing towards economic and political conflict, yet each finds themselves undeniably linked and interdependent by the new reality of global economic rivalries and cultural ties. The film captures the compelling personal stories and ideological challenges of why these two countries have the world’s most important relationship.

Interview subjects range from three former US Secretaries of State—Henry Kissinger, James Baker, and Madeleine Albright—their Chinese counterparts, and numerous other political,
economic and academic figures, as well as ordinary citizens building bridges between China and the United States.

Director Clarke says, “The fundamental questions that our film poses are deceptively simple: how should the US react to a newly ascendant China? Is it conceivable that the 21st century could bear witness to the first time in human history that two superpowers, each pursuing its own agenda of self-interest, might peacefully co-exist? Might it be possible to imagine a future in which the US and China gradually overcome their economic rivalries, ideological challenges and cultural differences in favor of an historic accord never before achieved between superpowers, in which new bilateral alliances are forged that could benefit not only their own national agendas also but might also be of immense value in fostering peace and prosperity in the wider world?“