Tom McCarthy’s “A Statement” premieres worldwide at NYFF: the 1980 climate drama with Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti and John Turturro

Oscar-winning director Tom McCarthy has returned to the New York Film Festival with his newest film, “A Statement”, which had its world premiere on Saturday evening at the festival’s 64th edition. The drama, based on Nathaniel Rich’s book “Losing Earth: A Recent History”, brings back to the screen an almost forgotten episode of history: the 1980 conference at a seaside hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida, where about 20 scientists, activists, lawyers and policymakers gathered with a seemingly simple mandate from Congress — to write a statement with recommendations on what should be done about the growing danger of carbon dioxide emissions, as The Playlist reports.

What makes the film special is its fidelity to the source: McCarthy and co-screenwriters Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré did not invent the tension in the conference room for dramatic effect — every word spoken inside that room comes word for word from the transcript that the stenographer recorded at the real conference, 46 years earlier. The screenwriters shaped and condensed that giant document, adding material outside the conference to give the participants more humanity, but the arguments, digressions and verbal deadlocks inside the room really happened.

The excellent ensemble cast features Paul Rudd in the role of the weary moderator Tom Jorling, Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Evan Peters, Tatiana Maslany, John Turturro, Jason Clarke, Mary Catherine Garrison, Nina Arianda and Zach Woods. According to The Playlist’s review, which gave the film a B grade, the real stars are Evan Peters and John Turturro: Peters brings the emotional urgency of a man who sees time running out, while Turturro portrays a brilliant thinker immersed so deeply in the details of the argument that he risks losing everyone around him.

The film, with a running time of 104 minutes, was shot in the same hotel where the real meeting was held in 1980. After its New York premiere, “A Statement” will be released in American cinemas by Sony Pictures Classics at the end of 2026.