Good stuff

People, happenings and things, locally and abroad, that we applaud.

Change makers

Inspiring documentary Living For

Change brings a message of hope when it premieres on March 1. Local filmmakers Antoinette Wilson and Jordan Osmond take a sobering look at what’s happening to our planet but they have also found and filmed couples, families and individuals around New Zealand who are creating positive change. These include former financial trader Andrew Martin who has a thriving permaculture property in the Bay of Plenty that attracts interest and visitors from around the world; Robert and Robyn Guyton who have created a huge, luscious forest-garden in Riverton; and Frank van Steensel and Josje Neerincx who have developed a piece of patchy land into an eco-farm in the Wairarapa that provides weekly bags of organic fruit and vegetables for 150 people.

Wilson says she wants everyone watching the film to come away feeling the potential of the situation. “There are a lot of things that could depress you out in the world. But if you take each negative act as almost like an opportunity, or a provocation, to do your thing, which is the opposite of that – you know, give more life – then it’s fun, then it’s a winnable game.”

Osmond says the motivation for the film came from the desire to show people there is a simpler, easier way to live that promises plenty for us all and respects the places we live in.