Voices of the Transition

Contents of the film

Climate change is a sad fact. Peak oil is another. Add economic instability to the picture and we are faced with food insecurity, probably the single most important threat to our civilization.

Voices of the Transition is a film about how to take on these challenges... positively! The issue is not only mere survival, but rather the possibility of thriving and improving our quality of life!

These “Voices of the Transition” tell us of a future society where our deserts will once again be living soil, where fields will be introduced into our cities, and where independence from oil will help us to live a richer, more fulfilling life.

Synopsis

Part I - France is at the forefront of research in agroforestry: Agronomists and peasants tell us of the return of the trees into our lifeless monoculture deserts, and about the immense advantages of a diverse farming system.

Part II - The English "Transition Town Initiatives“ represent a whole new way of generating new visions of a more liveable future and of acquiring the collective means to make them become reality at a community level.

Part III – In Cuba in the 1990’s an entire nation suffered from the bitter consequences of an early "Peak Oil". Thanks to their inventiveness and political openness to non-capitalist solutions, Cuba has now become the precursor in agro-ecology and urban agriculture.

Production

Voices of the Transition is an entirely self-produced, politically independent, non-commercial film project. It thus requires a lot of voluntary work. Our aim is to convey the solutions showcased in the film (ranging from permaculture and agro-ecology to the Transition Town movement) to a broader public. We hope to show the film in schools, public institutions and at festivals. Ideally, after recovering the costs, the film will be available for free web streaming. A DVD in 6 different languages will be produced (German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian).

Your contribution

We will use the funds in our honorary project for the postproduction process: sound mix in professional conditions, subtitling of the film, editing of a DVD, and payment of rights for archive material. The great voice you hear in the trailer belongs to the Brasilian singer "Renata Rosa", whom we had to pay for the utilization of the song.

Glossary

- Peak Oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters permanent decline.

- Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecosystems.

- Transition movement – A Transition Initiative is a self-organised, community-led response to the pressures of climate change, fossil fuel depletion and, increasingly, economic contraction. Priority lies in first raising awareness, and then moving on to self-organizing in groups, in order to actively build up sustainable living and resilience on a local level.

- Agroforestry – Agroforestry is an integrated approach of using the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies to design more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems.

- Food Sovereignty – The concept of Food sovereignty claims an international right that would guarantee countries to put in place best adapted agricultural policies – which would respond to the needs of their populations without being harmful to populations of other countries.

- Community-supported agriculture – A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. CSAs usually consist of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit in a vegetable box scheme, sometimes including dairy products and meat.

Thanks to...

Many thousand thanks to those who already have generously contributed to this project!!

John Lee
Marian Weaver
Jean-luc Henry
Emmanuelle Laleu
Bruno Acloque
Thomas Ungricht
Rüdiger Rowold
Antonio Martinez
Gerd Wessling
Sabine Petersen
Cinzia Fenoglio
Florian Jesse
Gregor Lersch
Hannes Steinhilber
Dawn Baggaley
Dawn Bowles
Massimiliano Lanza
Gerhard Lienau
Maren Coldewey
Carolina Macedo Haddad
Mathilde Harvey
Emilio Luque
Stefanie Griesse
Energico
Andreas
Josue Dusoulier
Marianne Rambaud
Martin Zbinden
Pablo Blanco
Tobias Polzin
Manfred Trautwein
Guy Morvan
Ath en Transition
Andrea Philipp
Andreas Staempfli
Fabian Dortu

... here could be your name!!