*** WE REACHED OUR FIRST GOAL - TOGETHER, LET'S GET TO 10 000$ ***

ENJOY OUR TEASER

Our initial goal was accomplished within a month, so I suggest we work together and reach 10 000$. With two weeks to go, I definitely think we can do it. Every dollar will be invested in the film's distribution : submitting the film to festivals and distributing the film online. Help us to spread the word. :-)

A big thank you to everyone who has been involved in this campaign so far. You are responsible for its success.

OUR GOAL

Our goal is to finish the postproduction and initiate the distribution of American Utopias, a movie on the topic of alternative and experimental communities in United States. The documentary aims to show how different people have conceived and created original, ecofriendly and sustainable homes. During the summer of 2014, we embarked on a three month journey through the USA and visited intentional communities, tiny house communities, urban laboratories, the Burning Man event and other creative and unique places.

OUR JOURNEY

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WHO WE ARE

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Meet the team behind the vision - Partners in life and on the road, Geneviève and Max combine years of experience in the worlds of education and film to bring you this production. Geneviève managed sound recording and community communications and Max, the director, oversaw cinematography and editing of the film.

THE FEATURED COMMUNITIES

Boneyard Studios, a tiny house community in Washington D.C.

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Boneyard Studios, founded Spring 2012 in the District of Columbia, is a showcase of tiny houses on wheels with a mission to demonstrate creative urban infill, promote the benefits of tiny houses, support other tiny house builders, and model what a tiny house community could look like.

The Dacha Project, a modern homestead in Ithaca, New York

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The Dacha Project, founded in 2008, is a do-it-yourself, egalitarian and educational homestead. The community is comprised of six friends and an extensive circle of supporters. Situated on 16 acres in Finger Lakes region of New York, The Dacha was originally built an off-the-grid, earth-bermed, solar-passive house, powered by active solar and a diesel generator converted to run on waste vegetable oil.

The Possibility Alliance, an electricity and petroleum free community in La Plata, Missouri

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The Possibility Alliance and the Still Waters Sanctuary is a service and educational center practicing and teaching simplicity, self-reliance, peace, gratitude, and community service.

Arcosanti, an urban laboratory in Arizona

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Arcosanti is a projected experimental town with a molten bronze bell casting business in Yavapai County, central Arizona, 70 mi (110 km) north of Phoenix. Its arcology concept was posited by the Italian-American architect, Paolo Soleri (1919–2013). He began construction in 1970, to demonstrate how urban conditions could be improved while minimizing the destructive impact on the earth. Photo credit : Joshua Lieberman - www.joshualieberman.com

Burning Man, a creative event in Nevada.

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Burning Man is an annual gathering that takes place at Black Rock City—a temporary community erected in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The event is described as an experiment in community and art, influenced by 10 main principles, including "radical" inclusion, self-reliance and self-expression, as well as community cooperation, gifting and decommodification, and leaving no trace. Photo credit : Jerome Choi.

OUR PURPOSE

As a director, I aim to achieve three main goals. I would first like to tell the story of the people who have chosen to live in these communities. Secondly, I hope the documentary will serve as an effective medium to portray how these people have brought their ideas to life. Finally, I want to reflect and bring my viewers to reflect on the viability, the strengths and the weaknesses of each of these projects, so that we can all benefit from these contemporary “utopias”.