124 The Land on Which We Stand

The Land on Which We Stand (124)

16:00, Thursday 02nd July, Theatre B

  • Director: Rebecca Payne (UK)
  • Year: 2007
  • Run time: 31'
  • Format: mini DV, PAL

'The Land on Which We Stand' is a glimpse into the life of the Landmatters Co-operative, a community of eleven adults and four children living in benders and yurts in rural Devon as they develop a permaculture project. Although the group own the 42 acres of land, it was originally bought for agricultural purposes and they do not have planning permission for residential use. The film follows the group as they fight for permission to live on the land in order to create a self-reliant way of life for a future that doesn't depend on fossil fuels. As well as offering insight into the activities and tensions associated with communal living, the film explores concerns of some local residents in the nearby hamlet who object to the 'hippies' living next door. At a time when concerns about climate change have come to the fore, will this community who have built their own shelters, grow their own food and provide their own electricity through solar panels and wind turbines be allowed to live on their own land or will the bureaucracy of strict planning law have them evicted?

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About this Festival

Sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain & Ireland (RAI) since 1985, it is an itinerant festival that moves biennially from one university host to another, in association with local community and cultural organisations.

The festival was held from Wednesday July 1st to Saturday July 4th 2009, and included over 50 hours of screenings of new films, a major international conference, and a targeted selection of events focusing on anthropological ethics in filmmaking, youth participatory film, and archiving ethnographic film.

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