Think About It!
July 20th, 2007March 29-30, 2008
RECENT FILM REVIEW!
‘The production ‘Think About It’ is an astounding achievement in many respects. It clearly shows what can be achieved by people who feel passionately about this planet and who believe they can make a real difference for a better way forward. Wendy and Richard Friar have brought together the key issues and the most articulate spokespeople to highlight not just the ills of the world but more importantly what can be done to set matters right. ’Think About It’ is a profoundly moving piece of filmmaking that has the potential to change attitudes and values. I would recommend this work to anyone who values the longevity of this planet and the benefits of living in peace and harmony with Mankind and the environment. Surely that must include most of us’.
Joy and David Barrow
Internationally renown documentary filmmakers
BREAKING NEWS! FRIAR FILM FOR AUSTRALIAN STUDENTS
Ronin Films, along with Australian Teachers of Media, are working with Richard & Wendy Friar to develop curriculum study guides based on their film ‘Think About It!’ -providing the opportunity for senior students to further develop their understandings of post 9/11 events, democracy, the role of civil society and more.
CONTINUING NEWS! MPs SUPPORT ‘VOTE FOR PEACE’
millionvotes4peace.com was launched at Parliament House, Sydney http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/MPs-endorse-votes-for-peace-campaign/2007/09/20/1189881660450.html, 21st September, 2007, by Wendy & Richard Friar - ‘the great Aussie challenge’ is to see which Aussie State / Territory (per capita) can lodge the most votes for peace. Aussies everywhere encouraged to take a ’punt on peace’! Supported by Australian human & civil ’A’ listers like Malcolm Fraser, Julian Burnside, Dr Carmen Lawrence, Dr Stella Cornelius, Shujat Manoo, Bishop Pat Power, Rabbi John Levi and thousands of everyday citizens like themselves leveraging their voices for peace by voting online. Vote Now & pass it on!
WELCOME from RICHARD & WENDY
So much has changed since the 2003 invasion of Iraq with signs emerging everywhere that a giant rethink is underway by ordinary citizens and leaders right around the world about how a more peaceful and sustainable future might be achieved.
In 2003, as two people who had never made a film before, the experience of witnessing the unrelenting march towards the invasion of Iraq paralled by the unprecendented protest of 30 million people marching for peace around the world (the largest global gathering in human history), we were moved to try and ‘do something’ to help our world.
Since completing the first edition of the film in July, 2007, we’ve been on the road as much as we can encouraging discussion about big global issues as ‘everyday coffee shop conversation’. To this end, we launched the millionvotes4peace.com initiative to help provide a platform for more people to express their views and have their voices heard.
We also started running film screening and discussion events around the country in the lead up to the 2007 federal election to encourage more discussion and awareness of the bigger issues affecting people’s futures beyond the next election cycle. These have continued and are evolving as groups and organisations find out about the film, what it meant to us to make it and the encouragement we can give others to ‘get out there and have a go’ to make a difference in their own way.
We also feel that the coming generation will have to ‘come out running’ to meet a future which seems to be crashing towards them. So, we’ve starting working on curriculum guides, referencing the film, as part of our continuing effort to encourage integrated thinking and approaches to futuring solutions.
On a wider front, there seems a renewed vigour for public debate, civic action and political/governmental accountablility ocurring right around the globe. After the demoralising defeat of public opinion resulting in the tragedy of Iraq, people should now feel confident to question things that concern them, to join in and add their weight to the numbers in whatever way they can.
We think this is especially true for Aussies. Our spirit of a ‘fair go’ is much needed, and with the healing work starting with our national apology to Indigenous Australians underway, this spirit has an essential and authoritive role to play in shaping a future world we’d all like to live in.
What that role is exactly and what each one of us can do is something that needs plenty of discussion time. With so little spare time available, taking it up over a cup of coffee or glass of chardonnay with others helps keep the ball rolling on a daily basis towards bigger and better things. Making peace fashionable is the key to making it mainstream and this is what we’re working together to do.
We look forward to sharing that journey with as many people as possible.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards, Richard, Wendy and all the family.
Why did we make the film?
Initially, we made the film because of the gut feeling we had about the invasion of Iraq - the reasons given for it just didn’t make sense to us.
Something didn’t feel right, the media wasn’t helping to explain it, leaders appeared already committed and no-one at the time really felt comfortable talking about it. Like a lot of people, we just wanted to know what was going on… and why.
From those beginnings, the film grew into a much wider conversation traversing and knitting together an encompassing conversation about the future for humanity and the planet. Making the film took us on a roller-coaster ride to places we never thought we’d have to go. It was the actual experience of making the film, the fear we felt about asking hard questions of people in power, tackling all the complexities, doing our own soul searching, that taught us so much.
Meeting and interviewing so many others who were putting themselves up for the challenge was totally inspirational. Keeping faith with them for what they confided in us and contributed to the film kept us going. We felt we had a responsilibity to get the messages they’d entrusted us with ‘out there’ to as many people as possible.
The courage to take the journey to act on what we already know in our hearts is the real story behind the film and the zeitgeist lesson of the post 9/11 world. We aren’t professional film makers, we’re not rich - we’re just an Aussie couple with a bunch of kids and more than our fair share of problems who felt something was so wrong in the world that we at least had to try to do something about it.
Think About It! is our love letter to the world.
What’s the film about?
The film helps ‘join the dots’ by bringing together in one place key elements about what’s happening in our systems of operation that allows tragedies like Iraq to happen. It highlights the convergence of two momentous human streams – the dogs of war barking for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 on the one hand and, on the other, the 2003 world peace march in which 30 million people around the world marched for peace against the invasion of Iraq.The film looks at why Iraq went so wrong but it also gives equal place to deeper indigenous, earth centred values to present an integrated, mutli-dimensional view of the global forces at play and what’s going on that makes it so hard to break the cycle of conflict and violence. It questions undermining of democratic dissent, the legality of the decision to invade, the consequences for the rule of law, the weakening of the role of the United Nations, the role of the media and the responsibilities of civil society. It places humanity squarely at a critical crossroads. In the darkening shadow of climate change, which way are we going to go – will we choose peace building or war mongering? What happened with Iraq, serves as a microcosm to study how we might intervene in issues that will continue to affect our capacity to create a peaceful, sustainable future. It looks at the ways in which we live our lives and relate to others – from the state-rooms of nations to the board-rooms of corporations to the lounge-room we share with our family. It looks at how we can move forward, as individuals, to make powerful contributions, in unified ways, with others - locally and globally.
The title of the film ‘Think About It!’ lets viewers know exactly what’s expected of them. Over fifty hours of interview footage have been jam packed into 53 minutes of film bringing core parts of the global picture into a position where the connection between these parts can be made and discussed with friends, family, colleagues and peers. It can be watched over and over again with a deeper understanding gained each time. It is not a fait accompli - it’s a conversation that’s been designed to be continued and grown.
Think About It! - ‘pass it on’ by sharing this link with the people in your life www.thinkaboutitmovie.com
