Fernando Meirelles is hitting a wall…

The first trailer has been released for the climate change documentary The Great Green Wall, which is being executive-produced by the 63-year-old Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter.

Fronted by Malian-French singer and activist Inna Modjaand backed by the United Nations, the film focuses on the ongoing Africa-led project to grow an 8,000km wall of trees and plants across the width of the continent. The initiative will stretch from Senegal to Djibouti and is meant to provide food and jobs to millions. 

The film, described as “Buena Vista Social Club meets Years of Living Dangerously”, follows Modja across Africa as she assembles leading musicians and singers to record an album that captures the spirit of the Wall, which once completed will be the largest living structure on earth, three times the size of the Great Barrier Reef.

The film is directed by Jared P. Scott, whose previous docs The Age of Consequences and Requiem for the American Dream debuted at HotDocsand the Tribeca Film Festival, respectively. 

Former BBC investigative journalist Sarah Macdonald, who won a BAFTA for her work at nightly news show Newsnight, produces for Make Productions. Alexander Asen is executive producer for the UN’s Convention to Combat Desertification, which itself is a co-producer on the film.