Documentary Production and Distribution News

Provocative New "Holistic" Documentary on Sustainability Begins Production in Pittburgh

By StudentFilmmakers.com Staff
posted Jul 22, 2011, 10:11

Sust Enable: The Metamentary Begins Filming July 30th with Author & Professor Charles Eisenstein

(Pittsburgh, PA) On July 30th a new Pittsburgh-based film collective, headed by director Caroline Savery, officially launches production of feature-length documentary “Sust Enable: The Metamentary” at the University of Pittsburgh's William Pitt Union, Lower Lounge, 5:00pm, documenting a lecture and subsequent interview with author and professor of sociology Charles Eisenstein.

Eisenstein has written extensively on personal, social and ecological sustainability in his books The Yoga of Eating and The Ascent of Humanity. He will be visiting Pittsburgh to give a presentation on his latest book, Sacred Economics: Money, Gift and Society in the Age of Transition.

Sacred Economics, released July 12th, explores the economics of separation and consumption, while offering hope of transition to a new monetary system. Sacred Economics is being touted as the baseline for a "meta-book" - each chapter is posted online, and all comments and responses informing the "meta-media."

On the topic of sustainability, Charles says, “Sustainability is the first step toward a new way of thinking. As we come to understand that we are not, in fact, separate from the rest of the planet, we want to create a society that contributes to a healthy planet. What is it that we want to ‘sustain’? Not only ourselves, but all of life in the fullness of its beauty. The question is not, ‘How can we live sustainably?’ as if survival were the only goal, but rather, ‘What do we want to create?’ and, ‘How shall we apply the gifts that make us human?’”

Sust Enable: The Metamentary is pioneering similar concepts in film. Called "The Metamentary" after the "meta" filmmaking movement of recent years, SE:MM will attempt to embody its story's core question--what does sustainability mean, and what does it look like to embody sustainability?--Not just on the level of their story (which will bring together interviewees from academia to radical activism to spiritual leaders) but within the stylistic construction of the film itself--and, radically, the film's own production processes.

"By considering how successfully our production incorporates the wisdom of sustainability principles, such as adaptability, holism, diversity, and dynamic balance, we will strive to innovate a model for authentic sustainable filmmaking through the creation of this engaging film,” says director Caroline Savery. "While telling the story of the struggle to define sustainability, we will be applying what we learn to the film itself."

 

Resources:

http://sust-enable.com/