Emerging from a few months of frantic editorial work, we have two exciting pieces of news:
- yes, the film is finished! We are absolutely delighted with the final, hour-long creation, and much look forward to hearing what you all think.
- …and it’s not just us who rates it 🙂 The ever-impressive Bullfrog Films have had a sneak preview and immediately signed up as our global distributor. Fantastic news!
UPDATE – the film is now available for purchase and rental by educational institutions and activist groups! Wider launch to follow in 2019 early 2020, details here..!
We are also exploring the possibility of taking on a separate distribution partner for the UK/Europe (contacts welcome!), but utterly thrilled to have such distinguished partners helping bring our work to a wider audience worldwide.
Without doubt this early success owes a huge debt to all of you, both for your input to the finished film and for the enthusiastic sharing that has led to over 4.5 million views for our tasters, like the one above. Thank you.
Once we have news from Bullfrog about the final release date we will of course let you all know; we know that Stacy Canterbury is not alone in saying that “all these ‘tasters’ have made me hungry for the full meal!”
That’s coming soon, and for now we can begin by revealing the official blurb for the film (note the new, hopefully intriguing, title…) – let us know what you think!
Oh, and if you’re not already on our special announcements mailing list, take a peek here…
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The Sequel: what will follow our troubled civilisation?
Opening with a powerful ‘deep time’ perspective, from the beginning of the Earth to our present moment, this film recognises the fundamental unsustainability of today’s society and dares to ask the big question: What will follow?
Around the world, fresh shoots are already emerging as people develop the skills, will and resources necessary to recapture the initiative and re-imagine civilisation, often in the ruins of collapsed mainstream economies.
We encounter extraordinary projects and people from four continents, from the likes of renegade economist Kate Raworth, conservative philosopher Roger Scruton and Gaian ecologist Stephan Harding to localisation revolutionary Helena Norberg-Hodge, inspirational practivist Rob Hopkins, eco-pioneer Jonathon Porritt and philanthropist composer Peter Buffett, among many others.
They are cultivating a resilience not reliant on the impossible promise of eternal economic growth; developing diverse, satisfying, convivial contexts for lives well lived. And lives that could leave a legacy to be proud of – a future worth the name.
As we discover, all were inspired by a work of rare depth that is rekindling optimism in the creativity and intelligence of humans to nurse our communities and ecology back to health – Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It – the posthumously published lifework of the late David Fleming. In his words:
“We know what we need to do. We need to build the sequel, to draw on inspiration which has lain dormant, like the seed beneath the snow.”
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I think this film is very promising and poetic. The language that is used is impressive and a contrast to the business-as-usual way of expression of ourself.
Thanks for the shout-out, gang! I’ve really enjoyed reading the synopses and watching the “tasters”. Cannot wait to see the whole film . . .
Thanks Joop, that’s nourishing to hear.
And our pleasure Stacy – thanks for your enthusiasm! And as you can see in the brief update above, Bullfrog have just confirmed that the initial release is now only two months away – exciting!
Mind you, we’ll understand if your rumbling stomach needs a snack before then 😉
This is the first time I have seen anything from your group, and it really impressed me in many ways. I live in Adelaide, South Australia, and I have had moments when out and about taking photos, or just sitting enjoying the solitude and beauty in the country, when I have been able to “make contact” as it were with animals. [especially kangaroos and horses] It’s hard to explain, but the moment involves eye contact in stillness and silence, and a feeling of communication. It’s as if somehow we are “connected” for that brief moment, a sense of belonging and sharing the space in which we find ourselves. Maybe this makes sense to you, I don’t know. Thank you so much for the work you are doing. Wendy.
I love the trailer for you film (Encountering Another Being II), which I just saw on Facebook.
Please put me on your email list.
I’m a writer/editor in Telluride, Colo., where I ran a newspaper/magazine publishing business (starting in 1990) until three years ago.
I now volunteer as a writer/editor for Telluride Mountainfilm (and the Telluride Film and Telluride Ideas festivals) and as a tech support guide “translator” for Mandarin Library Services, the last vestige of my family’s educational publishing business in south Florida.
I would love to volunteer for your organization, should you at any point need help on the editorial front.
Kudos for your beautiful and very moving film.
I just saw “Encountering Another Being” on facebook. It really resonated with what I have felt for so long. That we observe, study, categorise and name plants, animals, whatever, in the natural world. And that when doing so – birdwatchers as an example – get so caught up in the process, they don’t truly see what they’re looking at, they don’t make the connection you’ve so beautifully described. It becomes a competition of knowledge, both between and within themselves. I often catch myself seeing a plant or creature, not knowing it’s “name”, and then thinking – that (being) doesn’t know the name we give it, it is what it is. It is us who do the categorising and naming. If another looked at us and did the same, would we like it? Or would we feel we weren’t truly being seen? Yes of course intellectual knowledge can serve a great purpose, but not as an end in itself and not to supersede the true point of our existence, and that of the world we are part of. It needs to be kept in it’s place, as indeed does the intellect per se. Thank you for the work that you do.
Thank you Clare, that is most beautifully and accurately put.
And actually reminds me of a piece I once wrote about the similar dangers of counting, which you might enjoy:
http://www.darkoptimism.org/2014/05/19/the-impact-of-transition-in-numbers-a-note-of-caution/
In warm solidarity,
Shaun