655 for the Wild

Modern Australia knows that our planet needs saving. It knows that we need to stop cutting down our trees and clearing our lands. Yet progress is too slow. In fact, our experience with the younger generation is a paradoxical apathy and lack of belief in top-down institutional change.

With this run, and this film, we want to shift the thinking on “how do solve the climate crisis”. Government policies are critical, but we believe the solution lies more fundamentally in grassroots activism and a societal shift in the way that we think about nature. We want to show our audience that everyone has their own unique relationship with their natural world, and inspire them to step outside and begin to develop that relationship. Our thesis is that when people experience nature they will begin to truly care, when they care they will act (no matter how small), and when enough act we will have meaningful change. We want to inspire the first step in this chain towards widespread grassroots activism.

We hope that our film will add a new perspective to the conversation around environmental conservation and activism.

Our thesis is that real change comes from widespread grassroots activism, and to be a part of that people need to first understand and truly care about what it is they’re fighting for. Our vision for this film is to be the inspiration for that first step.

For people who don’t spend much time outdoors, we seek to reopen their minds to the natural world. We want to inspire them to challenge themselves, and break a cycle of disconnection. For people who already enjoy being out in nature, we want to challenge them to think more deeply and critically about that relationship.

Ultimately, our vision is for the audience to finish this film and pause for a moment, to wonder why it is Matt and Giles could find such profound happiness in the wilderness despite the tortures of their physical journey. That curiosity, and that conversation, leads to the first step.

We have two overarching goals we hope to achieve with this film.

Most importantly, we want to increase the number of people spending their time outdoors. To that end, we are editing this film in a way that will highlight the exhilarating joy and freedom that Matt and Giles experienced throughout their run. Our goal is to have audience members who would otherwise have stayed at home on the weekend instead dust off their old bike, or shake the spiders out of their walking shoes, and head to a local national park with their friends or family.

Secondly, and as an inevitable consequence, we want to promote a greater level of participation amongst grassroots environmentalism and conservation. This is entirely up to the individual, and can range from attending city demonstrations held by organisations such as the Bob Brown Foundation, to helping in a monthly clean-up for a local piece of bushland. There is no single way to protect our planet, and every bit counts.

This film and its message is primarily intended for the audience who, due to their very nature, are unlikely to watch it in the first place. We will therefore leverage the existing community of environmentally-conscious citizens who will watch the film by actively encouraging them to share the message with their own friends and family, and spark the broader conversation.

To connect with this community, we have been working closely with N4Ps including the Bob Brown Foundation and For Wild Places who are eager to use their large followings to promote our film. We also have a strong relationship with Salomon who are helping guide the development of this film in a style that is easily consumable for lay audiences. Salomon has hundreds of thousands of followers worldwide and have expressed interest in helping host our film with physical screenings. We are confident with these partners’ support, our film and call to action could reach tens of thousands of people across the country.

Our film is in and of itself a call to action, and the message is clear – take a moment to stop and think about your own relationship with the natural world. This is the crucial first step, one which is often overlooked, and ultimately what our film will challenge and inspire the audience to pursue – their own journey of reconnecting to nature. It’s up to us as individuals, as small pieces of the puzzle that when combined, can create a movement and inspire change. This change can be as tiny & significant as picking up a piece of rubbish on the beach, or can come from an environmental activist approach such as signing petitions to protect alpine wilderness areas, write to their local MP, or volunteer their time with activist groups. If they are looking to get outdoors but don’t know where to start, we will have resources to connect them with the communities of hikers, trail runners, and outdoor adventurers.