Jul 21, 2016

15 Films Inspiring and Illuminating the 'New Story' Revolution

By Tim Hjersted / filmsforaction.org
15 Films Inspiring and Illuminating the 'New Story' Revolution

Charles Eisenstein is one of the first people I heard talk about the "new story," synthesizing a diverse movement that has been emerging for the last several decades. When I go back far enough, I first heard about these ideas from reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn when I was 14. Since then, the number of voices who have brought this perspective into the culture has grown exponentially. 

What is this "new story" revolution? Well there's really no better way to learn about it then watching some of the many excellent films about it. 

Here's a great 7 minute video that gives a quick overview:

 

If you're excited to dive in deeper, the following 15 documentaries capture the spirit of the "new story" that is beginning to emerge along the margins of the old story. It is springing up within pockets of communities all over the world, and as the internet connects us in ever stronger mesh networks, this revolution of the heart grows deeper every day.

 

A New Story for Humanity: Change the Story, Change the World
3 min · A New Story For Humanity presents a beautifully and sensitively woven tapestry of the rich diversity that is the human family. Featuring interviews on the essential topics of our time: from cosmology to ecology, from ancient wisdom to...
Money & Life
86 min · Money & Life is a passionate and inspirational essay-style documentary that asks a provocative question: can we see the economic crisis not as a disaster, but as a tremendous opportunity?  
United Natures: a United Nations of all Species
104 min · United Natures explores the rights of Mother Earth, environmental philosophy, wisdom, spirituality, and the potential for a neo-indigenous future for humanity.
The Economics of Happiness
65 min · Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction...
In Transition 2.0: A Story of Resilience & Hope in Extraordinary Times
66 min · This film is an inspirational immersion in the Transition movement, gathering stories from around the world of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. There are stories of communities printing their own money, growing food...
Within Reach: Journey to Find Sustainable Community
87 min · Within Reach explores one couple's pedal-powered search for a place to call home. Mandy and Ryan gave up their jobs, cars, and traditional houses to 'bike-pack' 6500 miles around the USA seeking sustainable community. Rather than...
Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas
95 min · From Venezuela's Communal Councils, to Brazil's Participatory Budgeting; from Constitutional Assemblies to grassroots movements, recuperated factories to cooperatives across the hemisphere -- this documentary is a journey, which takes...
Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview
65 min · Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview is a documentary exploring the depths of the current human condition and the emergence of a worldview that is recreating our world from the inside out. Weaving together insights and findings...
Occupy Love
85 min · Join acclaimed director Velcrow Ripper on a journey deep inside the global revolution of the heart that is erupting around the planet. Humanity is waking up to the fact that the dominant system of power is failing to provide us with...
The Evolution of Ecological Consciousness | Andrew Faust
109 min · Permaculture designer Andrew Faust gives us an inspiring and heady narrative about the evolution of all life and human consciousness on Mother Earth. 
The Global Brain | Peter Russell
35 min · Peter Russell’s award-winning video, based on a live audio-visual presentation in 1983. He explores the idea that the Earth is an integrated, self-regulating living organism and asks what function humanity might have for this planetary...
Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective
92 min · Humanity is more than ever threatened by its own actions; we hear a lot about the need to minimize footprints and to reduce our impact. But what if our footprints were beneficial? What if we could meet human needs while increasing the...
Prout: Economic Democracy in Practice
30 min · Economics of Prout covers the basic economic principles of Prout, which offers a viable alternative to the materialistic, anti human philosophies of Capitalism and Communism.
Education For a Sustainable Future
53 min · Education For a Sustainable Future presents information on how today's practices in schools are socially unsustainable. The documentary film critically analyses what is considered socially relevant in a new education system which brings...
The Bloom Episode 3: New Ways of the Sacred
70 min · Part III of The Bloom “New Ways of The Sacred” looks at how Transformational Festivals are venues for an active engagement with ancient, universal themes of MYTHOS, RITUAL and THE SACRED, exploring ways which both honor the traditional...

 

 


 

Looking for something short to watch? Here are a few of the best "new story" short films:

 

Charles Eisenstein: The Two Great Stories That Give Meaning to Our Lives
6 min · What matters in life? Who are we? Every culture has answers to these questions. And the way we answer them has profound effects on the health of people and planet. This is a consciousness-shifting clip from the excellent film "Occupied...
A New Story of the People | Charles Eisenstein
8 min · The old story of our culture is losing its meaning for more and more people. Perhaps almost everyone can feel it these days. But a new story is emerging too - one that recognizes some long forgotten truths about who we are and our...
The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community
51 min · David Korten’s inspiring and extensively illustrated presentation of his book The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community. David says we are at a defining moment in all of human history.
Joanna Macy: From The Great Unraveling to The Great Turning
2 min · Prayer for the Great Turning May the turning of the Earth save us.
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible - Charles Eisenstein
5 min · "There is a vast territory between what we're trying to leave behind, and where we want to go - and we don't have any maps for that territory." - Charles Eisenstein
How Nature Has The Power to Liberate
13 min · Nature is the great teacher. The more you embrace nature, the more you feel free.
Imagine The Most Beautiful Future: What Do You See?
5 min · "Trust is the basis on which life heals. There is no deeper vision than the vision of a world in which trust reigns between all beings."
The Revolution Is Love! Our Movement is for the 100%
4 min · "Love is the felt experience of connection to another being. An economist says 'more for you is less for me.' But the lover knows that more of you is more for me too. If you love somebody their happiness is your happiness. Their pain is...
What Could Save This Planet, If Not Love?
3 min · In Terra Nova: Global Revolution and the Healing of Love, Dr. Dieter Duhm presents a vision for a new global culture – a world without war, a society without violence, love free of lies, and a life free of fear. Preview the book here...
This Is The "Living on Earth 101" Primer Every Human Needs To See. And It's Only 52 Seconds.
1 min · This Wombat has some simple instructions for living on Earth. A great reminder for sure!
Carl Sagan - Who Speaks for Earth?
7 min · "We have heard the rationales offered by the super powers. We know who speaks for the nations. But who speaks for the human species, who speaks for Earth?" - Carl Sagan​
How a Land High in the Western Himalayas Can Help Us Understand The Crisis of The Modern World
9 min · This is a clip from The Economics of Happiness. Watch it here (skip to the 10-minute mark to pick up where this clip ends)
The Sacred Balance
2 min · Based on David Suzuki's best-selling book of the same name, and filmed on five continents, THE SACRED BALANCE celebrates a new scientific worldview, an inclusive vision of nature in which we human beings are intimately connected to all...
Dada Krsnasevananda on "The Role of Spirituality in Modern Society"
15 min · "Imagine what it would be like if, instead of branding us by our brains or looks, our schools and televisions described the divinity and greatness inside each one of us, and taught us the means to realize it. If, instead of idolizing...
Jacque Fresco - A Story of Change
13 min · "Every action and decision we take - or don't - ripples into the future. For the first time we have the capability, the technology, and the knowledge to direct these ripples."
Earth Democracy
3 min · Vandana Shiva explains the concept of a deeper democracy called "Earth Democracy."
Self-Organisation Beyond Hierarchy
74 min · This series of six short films look beyond hierarchy at two approaches to self-organisation. Traditionally, many of us are used to having someone at the top, but times are changing and we are seeing a paradigm shift in how people...
What the World Needs Is An Evolution of Spirit
5 min · Sometimes there's not much use in telling people what the problems are. The best thing you can do is lead by example. Just show people how this awareness and knowledge has had a positive impact on your life, and people will take...
I Am Not Black. You Are Not White: We Are Not the Racial Labels Elites Invented to Divide Us
4 min · Racism is real but race is not. "Black" and "White" were labels invented in the 15th century - made up to divide us. Is it time to let these labels go? ​Prince Ea believes the answer is yes.
Transition From Caterpillar to Butterfly as Analogy for Social Change
4 min · An exceprt from Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview in which Dr. Bruce Lipton talks about the fractal nature of reality and compares the current global awakening and the evolution of humanity to imaginal cells in a dying caterpillar.
PROUT's Concept of Economic Democracy
10 min · 10 minutes of plain-spoken awesome. Economic Democracy is the BIG IDEA of our time. Make sure you don't miss the awesome moment starting at 2:30 that goes until 3:25! 
ENOUGHNESS: Restoring Balance to the Economy in the Most Awesome Way Ever
5 min · How we see the world determines how we act. Western thought sees us at war with each other over resources. In Indigenous philosophy, we are all related as individuals in balance with nature. This video juxtaposes these two world views...
Sacred Economics with Charles Eisenstein (2019 Remix)
12 min · Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth.
Charles Eisenstein: The Story of Interbeing
8 min · Charles Eisenstein explains how the real power we have to create change comes from stepping into a new story he calls The Story of Interbeing.

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