University Tour Kicks Off!

So much great news! We have launched our University tour beginning with Harvard University in partnership with the incredible Lawrence Lessig. We will be screening the film and then participating in a class discussion the following day. In the last week 5 more institutions from around the U.S. have contacted us about screening at their school. I am so thrilled that the film is captivating others just as it has for us over the last 5 years.
In other news: This week is our premiere in Seattle at the North West Film Forum so if you are in the Seattle area you can see Blueberry Soup on the big screen.

If you want to see Blueberry Soup come to your city or school, reach out to us and let's make it happen!

Today's Referendum

 

Timing... sometimes it so easily seems like we are 5 steps behind but just sometimes... just sometimes we are exactly where we are suppose to be at exactly the right time. I finished editing the film exactly 14 days before the national referendum was to take place in Iceland. This vote will determine what the Icelandic public has to say about the new constitution. After this, the results will be brought to Parliament and there they will make the final decision. Will this become the official constitution of Iceland? All of the work, research, time, innovation, and inspiration put into this process, will that result in a document that represents the future of the nation? 

 The day after I finished editing the film I contacted one of the members of the constitution. Once he saw the film he quickly showed interest in using the film to encourage voter turnout for the October 20th election. We had a very small window of time to organize. A group composed of people from Iceland who believed very strongly in getting the word out about the upcoming vote worked extremely hard over the next 2 weeks to try and figure out how we could get this film out to the maximum amount of people from all over the country. Finally we decided that the best way would be to go back to the root of how not only this film was made but also how the constitution was made... social media. On October 19th for 24 hours we screened the film online.
I woke up to a frenzy of emails, notifications, and over 500 views of the film.
This was the first time anyone outside of my immediate circle had seen the film, as you can imagine it was a nail biting kind of day.

 

Since only 24 hours ago we have been invited to screen the film in  

Greece, France, Canada, Iceland, and the United States. 

 I am writing this entry on the morning of the election in Iceland and I am hoping upon hope that it turns out for the best. But regardless of the result, I would like to pay homage to the process itself.

Let's review: 500 people ran for 25 seats in the council, those 25 were made up of an eclectic array of members within the society, then the newly elected council created an online draft for citizens to voice comments and suggestions throughout the process, during the sessions the council used Facebook and Twitter to update the public, once finished a national referendum was held for the entire nation to vote on the constitution, and only in the end is this brought to the parliament (still to come).

I have learned a great deal over the past four years as I have observed this historical event evolve. 

So much can be accomplished with just cooperation and trust and one brave leap of faith in a new direction will manifest even more courageous decisions, making each easier than the last. One of our contributors Jonas Antonsson pointed out that all the structures that are failing us now are creations; the house we live in, the monetary system, the government were all ideas at one point. So by that understanding these ideas are revisable, right?  However the election turns out today this process has paved a path for future acts of creative change and participatory democracy.

Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir is the editor for the Icelandic publication Iceland Review and  one of the main contributors to Blueberry Soup, yesterday she wrote a great article on her thoughts on the constitutional reform and today's referendum. Check it out here: When Tomorrow Comes

 To organize a screening of Blueberry Soup in your city, send us a message. Otherwise keep visiting us on Facebook and our website for upcoming screenings.

 

Cutting Room Floor

Did you know that when you watch a documentary you are only seeing a small fraction of the process that went into making that film? The fact is there are dozens of incredible stories that are left on the "cutting room floor". Starting in February we will be releasing stories from our amazing three year adventure from conception to post production.

 

 

 

 

 

Windy Bright Nights

The wind is strong today. I saw a woman attempting to stroll along the ocean side with her dress flying up and giving the gulls a peep show.

A friend of mine in Iceland said that he only knows one person who is in danger of losing his home. And while talking about it his friend realized that if he took out nearly 100% loans for everything in his home then essentially he was... renting. And that somehow eases the panes of losing control over belongings. I thought that was such a neat realization to come to.

There is an area out near the lighthouse where you can see these wooden triangular structures from really far away. They were used to dry fish. I have seen a lot of useful antiquitous contraptions near the sea side here. This particular area however comes with strong warnings. This is the season the neighborhood birds start laying there eggs and they get mighty defensive of their chosen area. There are few things that are as scary as angry birds, just to name a few:
1) Raccoons
2) Cucumbers
3) Cars
I will not be visiting during this time as to allow these birds enough time to prep their spawn.

I've had the darndest time trying to sleep here. You know that feeling you get when the days get longer and all of a sudden it's 8pm and still really light out? Those are the nights you feel like time is on your side and fun is on the horizon. So imagine it not actually getting any darker than the picture below. That picture is taken at midnight. I had my legs in a tiny hot spring right amongst the rocks looking out at the ocean and it's not a situation I could have planned but I was small in comparison to it's serenity. 

In a place far far away there is coffee

             It's day one and Reykjavik is pumped full of sunshine and clean ocean smells. 
I fumbled my jet lagged self into a cafe just shutting down for the day and I must have looked like a mess because the barrista said "ok, just one more". I then hobbled over to a friends house whom I always get lost trying to find but this one just this one time I found it!
So today you have been dream like.
I am staying near the ocean and at night there is this really thin road that cars race up and down for hours. When I was little we could hear the racetrack from two towns away, that's how silent the country is. This makes me feel safe.

Yesterday was bright and warm and today is rainy and chilly. I'm sure as anyone living in the Northern part of North America knows, we don't count on the weather being anything but unpredictable. So Iceland's weather makes sense to me. Then I came across this on my walk today and thought it was pretty spot on!

I went to pet a fluffy awesome cat today on the sidewalk JUST to see if anything had changed... NOPE!
Cats are still mean as snakes here.
Click for backstory

Next week is when the real "meat and potatoes" begins (i.e. interviews, meetings, gatherings etc.)
And so this week I am going to slowly move into focus and be really greatful I am finally ready... ready to finish this film.

Economic Crisis Smisish

During the Collage Making Party planning out came older images and treatments of films of Wilma's Wishes past. Because it seems pretty fitting it's been decided that we are going to screen one of our first documentaries at the fun-raiser. The film is called "Cut & Paste" and it's a short film on the collage artist (Candy Lucas) whom started "collage nights" in her own home. She's freaking awesome!

Candy wrote yesterday just to check in and she mentioned how she will be taking the next four months off of work to create. She is like this, jobs are just a thing to put food on the table but the magic is in your head down to your hands. Has everyone else been noticing how this economic crisis is actually bringing us closer to our basic desires as humans?

Bear with us:
If the money isn't there, we have to get creative on how we spend our time. We get excited about making stuff again, cooking at home, and recycling what we already have. Call us crazy hippies but maybe we are onto something good. Can we get a heck yeah?!

4:44

I don't wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone
...Javan

Eileen Jerrett, hailing from New York, has crazy red hair and a badass sense of humour.

Bria Cole, slumming in Toronto, has a penchant for funky jewelry and brings nothing but spunk.

Amanda Feder, escaping from Montreal, has a kickass jacket and is a devout cinephile.



Here we are, putting together the radest project of the year, a trip to Iceland to get to the crux of how this economic crisis is affecting Icelanders. We are not in danger of boredom. To accompany this fact, we are hosting one ingenious fun-raiser on May 22nd. At the Merchants of Green Coffee, we are hosting Gettn' Creative Collage Fundraiser.

Watch here for the party aftermath (look here about two days after... give us some recovery time)