Every day Antoinette Wilson looks for small ways she can make changes.
This might be what she eats or puts on her skin, but mostly how she can do little things that contribute to the good of the globe.
Happen Films directors Antoinette and Jordan Osmond are excited that their confronting and inspiring film-documentary Living the Change: Inspiring Stories for a Sustainable Future is about to make its debut. The feature-length doco is a ground-breaking look at exactly what is happening to the planet, while providing inspirational stories of families and individuals who are making simple changes in the race to save the planet.
"I try and make a difference every day and I am inspired by trying something new. I think that once you make change in your in your life — just small changes — it becomes a part in your life and is not so challenging, it becomes something exciting," Antoinette says. "What we want to do with the film is to create a sense of urgency but also a sense of excitement about the change."
Jordan says every person can make a difference and everyone has the power to make change. "The idea behind the film and all our films is finding solutions. If you read the science about the environment it can be quite depressing and you kind of feel powerless ... while action is needed at a government level, this film concentrates on individual efforts and how individuals have so much power to make a change."
Living the Change covers environmental issues on a variety of areas — food production, economy, alternative currencies, waste minimisation and living simply. It is a stylish doco which introduces the audience to a variety of every-day people peppered throughout the country who are contributing in some way to make a better life for the world around them.
"Our hope is that through this diverse range of people the audience will connect with at least one or two and start thinking about how they can make changes as well," Jordan says.
The documentary almost did not happen. Antoinette and Jordan planned on touring the country for three months creating short films for release on YouTube but met many people with innovative stories, and the pair realised they could bring it together as a feature length film. Production began in 2016. Living the Change has been their biggest undertaking so far.
Jordan is an experienced director, cinematographer, writer and editor at Happen Films.
Antoinette's background is in book publishing and she met Jordan in Victoria, Australia, in 2015 as a participant in the documentary film A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity. Happen Films is currently based out of a 20-square-metre "unplumbed palace" in the foothills of the Kaimai Range.