Oscar-winning film producer Lord David Puttnam gave a taste of his new movie on Monday at the official opening of Goldsmiths’ Curzon cinema after 18 years away from the film industry.

Arctic 30 tells the true story of 30 Greenpeace activists seized by Russian troops in the Arctic in 2013. The documentary is based on  the best selling book Don’t Trust, Don’t Fear, Don’t Beg by Ben Stewart, one of the 30 activists held by Russian authorities and then released in June 2014.

Lord Puttnam, who previewed the work at a reception to celebrate the cinema’s opening, said: “It is their story that I’m telling. Climate change is the biggest crisis to face the human race.

“But it’s also, weirdly, this amazing opportunity to understand that we are in each other’s pockets. We will have to solve this problem together.”

Lord Puttman is optimistic that his documentary will change people’s perspective: “I have two grandchildren in their early 20s and their biggest crisis is that they won’t be able to make both parties on a Saturday night.

“If this film helps my two fabulous granddaughters come to me after seeing this and say, ‘Grandpa, what can we do?’ then it has done its job.”

 The Curzon at Goldsmiths marks the return of cinema to Lewisham after a 15-year absence when the Cannon in Catford closed in 2001.

The Labour peer Dame Joan Ruddock and former MP for the area, who attended the reception, said she was thrilled that Lewisham had a cinema to bring the community together.

“I’ve always believed that there is a greater scope for this great institution to have much more of an interface with the community,” she said.

Sue Clayton, Professor of Film and Television at Goldsmiths, she she hoped that the cinema would “bridge the gap” between the community and the students by providing a place where they can learn from one another.

Curzon Goldsmiths opened in January and screens films every weekday after 6pm and on weekends.

Video and reporting by Sophianne Morissey and Grant Muir.