Project Description

"An amazing story of African villagers who turned their lives around"

We have reached our target very quickly which will allow a basic edit  but are still accepting donations.   These extra funds will enable us to :

• Finish to a level where we may get TV exposure. (Proper sound mix, grading, maps and graphics, subtitling and translation etc).
• Produce copies on DVD or as video files in NTSC and PAL for educational purposes and distribution to interested permaculture groups.
• If we gather any funds beyond this, they will go directly to the Chikukwa Project (CELUCT) itself.

THE CHIKUKWA PROJECT is a feel good story out of Africa. For the last 20 years an incredible permaculture project has been growing in Zimbabwe. Where once the people of the Chikukwa villages suffered hunger, malnutrition and high rates of disease, this community has turned its fortunes around using permaculture farming techniques. Complementing these strategies for food security, they have built their community strength through locally controlled and initiated programs for permaculture training, conflict resolution, women’s empowerment, primary education and HIV management. Now they have a surplus of food and the people in these villages are healthy and proud of their achievements. Their degraded landscape has been turned into a lush paradise. A brother and sister team travel to Zimbabwe to make this film to learn how this has happened.

“Permaculture actually solves all the problems that we face in human life. So this is considered to be the right approach for us to live - if you want to save the earth.”

( Julius Piti, one of the project’s founders)

BACKGROUND TO THE CHIKUKWA PROJECT

Hunger, land degradation and community breakdown are the key problems of most of Africa. The Chikukwa Project has been remarkably successful in dealing with these problems. Almost all projects designed to deal with these issues have failed in the long term. The effective strategies used in the Chikukwa villages deserve the attention of those seeking to help the people of the African countryside.

Our film shows in detail how this community functions. We meet the villagers who have changed their methods of farming. They show us their crops, animals and trees. We can see the immense changes in the landscape over 20 years. We also meet the leaders of various committees who look after the old people, develop strategies to empower women, help prevent AIDS, promote nutrition and teach permaculture techniques. We also meet some world masters of conflict resolution and watch them run a two day workshop to solve a conflict between some farmers in the village. We find out how the CELUCT organisation is run from the bottom up. We discover that this is one of the most successful projects in the whole of Africa.

This film can help to spread the message and give inspiration to those working to solve problems in Africa. When so much that is said about Africa portrays African villagers as inevitable victims this story celebrates their strength, their hard work and their capability.

ABOUT US – THE FILM MAKERS

The Director, Gillian Leahy, is an AFI Award winning documentary maker (My Life Without Steve, 1986). She has directed over 16 films, most of which have been about improving people’s lives. Her film, Our Park, (1998 http://www.documentaryaustralia.com.au/user/my_films/op/add/) was a poem to the wild and the tame in her local park. She is based in Sydney.

Co-producer, Dr Terry Leahy, (her brother) is convenor of the Master of Social Change and Development Program at the University of Newcastle. His research expertise is in sustainable development and food security in Africa. (http://www.newcastle.edu.au/staff/research-profile/Terry_Leahy/) He was invited by some of the villagers in Zimbabwe to come and visit their project and make this film.

When we arrived at the Chikukwa villages we met up with local people who worked with us and helped us do the filming. It was hard work in wet mountainous country but it was always exciting.

YOUR CONTRIBUTION

We require POSTPRODUCTION funds to successfully complete our film. Your financial support, however small or large, will help us finish the film and enable us to spread the story of THE CHIKUKWA PROJECT to the world. With such an important untold story of how permaculture can really change a community for the better, we want it to reach the largest audience possible. CELUCT itself are keen to see the film finished so they can use it for teaching and fundraising.

The completed film will be screened in community, government and educational settings in Australia and overseas to reach those most likely to benefit from adopting more sustainable farming practices. This can be achieved through the international permaculture organisations and their websites, the Transition Towns movement, local community gardening networks, academic conferences and teaching in development studies, sociology, anthropology and agriculture as well as government organisations in Africa.

We will try to achieve TV sales here and overseas. The film will be screened in environmental and other film festivals.

We can’t do this without you! Please consider assisting in any way you can.

If you are able to contribute financially we have amazing incentives to the right. If you can spread the word about our Pozible campaign to your friends, on Facebook or by just talking to a friend, you may change the face of hunger and poverty in Africa.

Here’s a breakdown of how we plan to use the funds:

1. Pay for the completion of the final edit

2. Pay for translations from Shona to English

3. Pay for Film Music Rights (for world release)

4. Pay for grading and titles work

5. Pay for Film Sound Design and Mix

6. Pay for Editing the Film Trailer

7. Pay for Editing various versions of the film to share in as many different outlets as possible: Theatrical, Domestic Broadcast, use in communities and lecture halls.

We have self-funded this project so far with $6,000 and we have had some support from the University of Newcastle and the University of Technology, Sydney of about $4,000. In addition, there have been hundreds of hours of voluntary unpaid work put in by us and the Chikukwa villagers. We ourselves are getting no income from this film.

WHY DONATE?

The Chikukwa community need this film made. Philanthropy to agriculture projects in Zimbabwe has dried up for political reasons so the CELUCT Centre is struggling to even run its usual workshops for local farmers, its outreach to other communities in Zimbabwe, and its one 4 wheel drive utility. They want to use the film to raise recognition, to promote their project and to get much needed funding. Money you give to this film will have far-reaching effects.

The second reason to fund this film is that this is one of the very few projects in Africa for food security that has stood the test of time and is still working after 20 years yet very few people are aware of this project. If you could bottle what they’ve got and export it to the rest of Africa you would begin to solve the problems of hunger and malnutrition which are endemic in even the most wealthy African countries. This film will be a major way to export these ideas and to educate people in detail about the strategies used.

As Julius Piti says “Pemaculture is how to live if you want to save the earth”. Explaining what this means in a particular context is the point of this film. In the near future, knowing how to live sustainably will be important for all of us. This film provides an optimistic model of what it might be like to live in a sustainable and democratic community.

This is not a high risk proposition. Gillian is an experienced filmmaker. 

We have already cut a 20 minute short version - see http://vimeo.com/33761246

 We already have the 35 hours of needed film footage. This film will definitely be completed but getting it finished this year depends on you.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT TO TELL THE STORY OF THE CHIKUKWA PROJECT!

Spread the word! Visit us on Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter: Chikukwa Project

Facebook: The Chikukwa Project - Film

HOW POZIBLE WORKS

Pozible is a new way to fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavours. Pozible is powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully funded or no money changes hands. In other words, if we don’t raise our goal of $5,000 we cannot collect the funds.

WHAT IF WE DON’T REACH OUR GOAL?

If funding fails, all pledges are cancelled and that's that. Your card is not charged, it’s like nothing ever happened. We hope this doesn’t happen! Those 60 days will fly by, so donate today!

CAN WE EXCEED OUR GOAL?

Yes, and we need to!!! We have been very modest in our request and all monies donated to this project will be spent on every aspect of the film whether that is postproduction or distribution. In the event there’s anything over it will go to The Chikukwa Project organisation itself.

REACH OUT AND CONTACT US!

Gillian Leahy 0414 475 954

Terry Leahy 0419 418 841

gillian.leahy@uts.edu.au

terry.leahy@newcastle.edu.au