The Circle
The film follows a new eco-community from 2014 with blissful beginnings to their apocalyptic collapse in 2019. A group of adults together with kids step out of society as we know it, deconstructing the basic pillars of life. The founders of the commune, 2 strong women, fall into a powerstruggle triggered by a love triangle that splits the community up. Families break up, friends are betrayed.
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.
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.
Villages of Light
Scientific reports predict environmental collapse and extinction of the human race. We are living on a dying planet. But out there, people are working on local solutions. It is called ecovillages. It is a grassroot movement trying to find solutions to soothe the general hysteria and panic mode of environmental and social collapse. We go on a quest to explore a wide variety and possibilities of sustainable co-living in ecocommunities, spiritual practices and rituals. In 6 episodes of the docuseries we try to find an answer – is there a replicable model that could be transferred to the rest of society to make a radical transformative structural switch? The variation of communities covers success stories from the 60-ies like Zegg (Germany), the oldest community in Europe; Damanhur (Italy), which is a centre of theurgic rituals and magic healing of the Earth; Tamera (Portugal) – a free love community, that acts on a global system change, from war to peace, from exploitation to cooperation, from fear to trust; Suderbyn (Sweden) – a grassroot experimenting ground for low-tech energy solutions and permaculture. As a counterpoint there is an urban community in Bretagne (France) that shows how sustainable co-living is possible also in the cities. On the journey we meet charismatic grounded visionaries and leaders of this movement that open the ideology behind a seemingly niche movement that could actually be a model for humanity to make a real change. Behind the idealistic aspirations of this movement lay also a deep-rooted controversy of individuals having to abandon their personal happiness over the pursuit of the community´s benefit.
Becoming Roosi
The filmmaker follows a girl, Roosi, for 10 years from age 8 to 18. She grew up as a child of an activist. She struggles to cope with climate grief and guilt. She is torn between becoming an activist herself vs finding her own life path through creativity and enjoying the teenage ecstasy.
When she was 8, her family moved to an eco-village. Her mother Liina was the frontwoman of the commune. Roosi hated her childhood there. Now, eight years later, Roosi is stepping in the footprints of her mom. She battles the dilemmas of the unpredictable world. Roosi has an over-active mind. She is sensitive to injustice and wasting resources. Her intelligence and vocalness are rare for her age. Her fate throws her yet again to an unknown territory and she has to make big decisions about her future. The arch of the film is her tense relationship with both her parents and finding her place in this world.
When she was 8, her family moved to an eco-village. Her mother Liina was the frontwoman of the commune. Roosi hated her childhood there. Now, eight years later, Roosi is stepping in the footprints of her mom. She battles the dilemmas of the unpredictable world. Roosi has an over-active mind. She is sensitive to injustice and wasting resources. Her intelligence and vocalness are rare for her age. Her fate throws her yet again to an unknown territory and she has to make big decisions about her future. The arch of the film is her tense relationship with both her parents and finding her place in this world.