Heart Circle

Heart Circle is a 6 part docu-series about the first intentional eco-community in Estonia. We follow 12 adults and 6 kids attempting to create a space away from society with a sustainable lifestyle. In the series we go through 5 years from the blissful ‘honeymoon’ till the dramatic collapse of the whole undertaking in 2019.
They start by deconstructing the very basic pillars of life from nuclear family, to education, relationships and consumption. It’s a series about how ecological sustainability is very much defined by the stability of human relationships. Heart circle is the communication method they use throughout the film, sharing in a circle - transparently, from the heart.
The children of the commune often prove themselves more prescient and self-aware than the adults around them. The lifestyle they want to live may be alternative but, as our protagonists discover, it is difficult to find an alternative to human nature. Over the course of the years, these lofty ideals are eroded as members begin to bemoan the lack of structure in their small society, and to subtly struggle to gain power themselves. There is a sense of tragic inevitability here – one may be able to escape from the trappings of capitalist society, but you can’t run away from deep seated human frailties such as jealousy, anger, need to control. All of this is in the series spiced up with plenty of comic-relief and contradictory perspectives through the eyes of a collage of 6 main characters. Each of the characters face their own challenges within the commune, starting from wishful dreaming about the possibility of free-love and polyamory, financial inequality and shared power, to lack of community support. In the end like in any human group - it all boils down to money, sex and power. They discover that in order to save the world, one needs to start within.