Why a Film Contest?

Making art that shows people that their future need not be a nightmare, despite climate change and peak oil, is essential to community acceptance of Transition. If people are to work on Transition in their communities, they must be able to see what they are working towards, and that they can continue to have satisfying, and possibly improved lives, despite changes to society. They need to see that we do have a choice regarding our future, and that that choice is between the changes we want and the changes we fear. Films about successfully Transitioned Toronto communities even give us the opportunities to point out the ways in which our communities and lives may be improved as a result of minimizing our use of fossil fuels.

Transition Towns, including Transition Peterborough, have often run Transition Tales contests. These contests ask people to submit written stories about their communities' futures in the context of Transition and are valuable in informing what Transition communities must implement if they are to achieve the desired future lifestyles of the members of their communities. Transition Toronto has decided to run a similar contest, but use film rather than prose, to take advantage of the potential for short films to "go viral." Working in a megacity, rather than a town, there are so many more people to reach with the message of Transition Towns that viral videos may be our best option for communicating on the necessary scale within our very minimal budget.

Also, in Toronto, we are very fortunate to have Greg Greene, director the The End of Suburbia, as a native resident. The End of Suburbia is the film that inspired Rob Hopkins to develop his first Energy Descent Action Plan, and go on to create the Transition Towns movement. Greg has been a Transitioner since before there were Transitioners, and we are fortunate that he is willing to share his film-making skills with us through the workshop series that will inform this contest.