What I wanted to do was celebrate the rich diversity of sustainable lives that people have chosen. I filmed really ordinary people because I wanted to dispel myths about being green in business and in life. It's all about choice. The film is made for the people who think that it's only weird people, hippies or the lucky few that can have those kinds of lifestyles. It's designed for the average person who hasn't even begun on the green journey.
SB: When did you start working on the film?
EH: I spent a couple of months researching and talking to people over the winter of 2011 and I amassed an extensive itinerary to span the whole country.
My son and I, he was seven at the time, bought a wee van for $2800 off TradeMe, got a bed built in the back and we set off on an adventure. The whole project was done on a super shoestring budget, we made it work for $200 a week including diesel, camping ground fees, internet connections and food. We stayed with a lot of the people we filmed. We were on the road for six months... We finished filming in April 2012 and then it's taken right up until Christmas to do all the editing.
SB: Who else helped with the film project in terms of editing and sound?
EH: I did the editing, sound, camera all myself. I'm a one woman band. What I ended up doing in the end is running a Pledgeme campaign. I got $9,750 to employ an additional editor and a sound engineer right at the end. They also helped me cut down the project from 70 families to 50. It was an absolute necessity to have outside help to create the final film.
SB: Which areas did you gather stories from?
EH: Down south as far as Riverton and up as far as Whangarei.
SB: How was it being on the road with your son?
EH: It was a privilege actually. He's a great kid and we had such interesting talks about everything under the sun on our travels. He was on the stills. He used my expensive SLR digital cameras on location, he mastered it and even got paid - $2 a session. He was quite involved. In a lot of places there were very hands-on things happening, for instance he learned how to milk a goat and make tea tree oil. I home school him so New Zealand was our classroom.
SB: Where there any particular stand out stories that you found?
EH: Every story that we filmed was really amazing in its own right, and each one is really different... It works because it's about 50 different people or groups of people. There's one guy, his name is Bill Rucks from Water Alchemy Limited, and he travels to third world countries building anaerobic digesters and does workshops. He reckons that every household could have totally free power for ever - heating, cooking and lighting - by putting our fecal and food waste through bio digesters and harnessing that gas.
So there's everything from that to an organic skin care company called Viola Organics in Whangarei where you can literally take a teaspoon and eat any of their products. We talked a lot with them about how people put all sorts of stuff on their skin and how it is in fact your biggest organ. If you look on the back of standard skin products you find these frightening warnings saying 'Don't get in your eyes' or 'Induce vomit if swallowed' and yet we are putting it all over our body.
It's my hope that everyone will find someone in the film that they can relate to and think 'perhaps I can incorporate those changes in my own life. Many people we filmed started from very humble beginnings and I think this also makes it very accessible to viewers. Our kiwi 'can do' attitude prevails.' It's all about sparking an idea for change in people's minds in an encouraging and heartening way.
SB: Did any of the stories cause you to reevaluate your own way of life?
EH: There is one major thing that stands out. I own my own house, but we met these people in Papamoa who don't own their place; they do what's called long-term leasing of places. They might have a lease for seven years and they were really amazing in terms of changing my thinking about having to own your own piece of land. For many people these days, being a property owner is simply not going to happen, so to look at what this family does offers a real alternative.
They planted all their fruit trees, they have a cow and WWOOFers and they live this absolutely fantastic life. They see themselves as kaitiaki of the land and they are living off it right now. They're not waiting for the 'one day.'
We hear alot of 'I can't' or 'One day when I retire I might have a bit of land somewhere' but these people are showing us we don't need to wait and actually 'we can'.
More information, or to get your hands on a copy, head to the facebook page. You can email emmaheke@xtra.co.nz if you'd like to host a film screening in your city or town
