Franny Armstrong is a former pop drummer and self-taught filmmaker, born in 1972. She has directed three feature documentaries: The Age of Stupid, McLibel, and Drowned Out. These documentaries have been seen by 70 million people worldwide, across TV, cinema, internet, and DVD platforms.
In the early days of the internet, Franny founded the McSpotlight website in 1996. Through her company, Spanner Films, she pioneered the "crowd-funding" finance model, which allows filmmakers to raise reasonable-size budgets while retaining ownership of their films. Age of Stupid is a notable example, having raised over £900,000 from over 300 investors.
Franny also developed the "Indie Screenings" distribution system, which enables anyone to make a profit by hosting screenings of independent films. The Age of Stupid was screened over 1,100 times in the first six months alone.
In 2009, Franny set a new Guinness World Record with the solar-powered Age of Stupid "People's Premiere", which was simultaneously screened in 63 cinemas across Britain while producing only 1% of the emissions of a standard premiere. The film also reached number one at the UK Box Office, with zero pounds spent on advertising.
Later that year, a global premiere event was held in 700 cinemas across 63 countries, linked by satellite, and was watched by over a million people. The event featured Kofi Annan, Gillian Anderson, and Thom Yorke of Radiohead.
In September 2009, Franny founded the 10:10 climate campaign, which aimed to cut the UK's carbon emissions by 10% during 2010. The campaign gained widespread support, including Adidas, Microsoft, Spurs FC, the Royal Mail, 75,000 individuals, 1,500 schools, and a third of local councils.
The campaign expanded internationally in March 2010 and had autonomous campaigns running in 41 countries by July 2010. Key sign-ups included the French Tennis Open, the city of Oslo, and L'oreal. 10:10 estimates that participating organizations have reduced carbon emissions by 500,000 tonnes.
Born and bred in London, Franny Armstrong is a talented filmmaker and entrepreneur who has made a significant impact in the world of documentary filmmaking and climate activism.
