“This film is dedicated to building greater understanding between

Muslim people and people of the West and to healing the relationship

with Indigenous Australians, their Ancestors and this Land.”

We had never made a film before but the lead up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 paralleled by the extraordinary experience of the World Peace March (the largest global gathering in human history), inspired us to ‘do something more’ to make a difference for our world.
We began filming ’Think About It! amongst the half million fellow Aussies who joined the ‘World Peace March’ (of over 30 million people worldwide) in Sydney. It was an event; no, a phenomena, of  unprecedented proportions - including the degree to which it was undersold by politicians and the media. Prime Minister at the time, John Howard, dismissed the more than 1million Australians on the streets as ‘a mob’.?It was the biggest bloody mob we’d ever seen!
For us, in that feeling of being there, together, as one, with that sea of faces, of people of all colour and race, it seemed everyone looked the exactly same. Everywhere people were smiling, they all had kindness, towards one another, in their eyes. It was unforgettable. By poll, those 20% who marched, represented the majority of Australians, with similar results worldwide.

We finished the film in July, 2007. We consolidated over 70 hours of interview footage into 52mins. It was very hard to cut those interviews down as they are filled with such potent and important information and truths. As the federal election was not far away, and despite our exhaustion (physically and monetarily!) we took the film on the road to give people more the think about as they considered their vote.
We ran public film screening and discussion events for people all over the countryside. As the election neared, we also launched another vote. An online initiative - millionvotes4peace.com - at Parliament House in Sydney. This platform creates a space for people to share their reasons why they’re voting for peace. Be sure to log on and add yours… and pass it on to others.
Think About It! is now getting better with age as world events and movements unfold along the lines prescripted by those who were interviewed. The film continues to provide direction and inspiration for fellow travellers on the path to making a difference. The depth of content, if watched many times over, continues to provide many layers of insight into what and how real peace building is achieved. Even for us. We’ve watched it over sixty times and we still get more stuff out of it!
It’s also powerfully handy to help others get on the same ‘peace building’ page. Used in groups, it’s a great way to get discussions happening.
The message of the film is to do more for the peace we want - but not more of the same. We have to think about the purpose and function of conflict and approach the resolution of conflict differently, if we want a different result. To help the understanding of this message grow, we are continuing to give talks, host discussions and run workshops on what real peace building is all about.
None of this, of course, would be happening if we hadn’t taken the leap to make the film together. And without others taking the leap with us, we could never have finished the film. We’d like to especially thank, in order of appearance,  Bernard,  Andy Bambach ‘In Your Face Productions’, Louis Meek and Norman Neeson ‘Egeenda Films’, Claire Deak music score, Mike Gissing ‘Digital City Studios’, Rick Schweikert ‘Frame Set Match’ and everyone at Ronin Films.
We are also launching a new, visionary project to make peace fashionable on a global scale. If you have expertise and would like to contribute to something ‘very big’ please contact us. We’d love to hear from you and welcome you on board.
We look forward to sharing more of the journey - if we bump you on the pathway, don’t forget to say ‘hello’!
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 by those in power did not make sense. Richard wanted to get to the bottom of that, he wanted to find out what was really going on and what peace was really about. He also liked hanging out with Wendy and thought the film project was something they could do together. Wendy, on the other hand, knew that if Richard wanted to make a film about peace he’d have to learn a little about it! This could only be good!
The process of making the film was a bit like ‘life mirroring art’ - the forces driving us were as different as we were from each other and these differences, especially under the pressure of production and finances, funnily and predictably enough created an abundance of conflict that, had it not been for our very resilient, love and respect for one another, would have seen our relationship in meltdown. We came very close.
The value, of course, was being able to use this process to grow our understandings of these differences to resolve the conflicts that arose. But the project was so huge and so much stuff got churned up during the production that it wasn’t for a good two years after the film was finished that we were finally able to converge on what we’d learned.
What helped to keep us going during the production process was meeting and interviewing so many others who were putting themselves up for challenges of their own. Keeping faith with them for what they confided in us, and contributed to the film, kept us going. We felt we had a responsibility to get the messages they’d entrusted us with ‘out there’ to as many people as possible.
At the same time, and on the most part, there was a great deal of fear in the public arena about speaking out against the invasion. Ordinary people did not feel comfortable to discuss issues openly in public. In a case of hot potatoes, even other film makers gave us their footage rather than do anything with it themselves - big brother seemed to be casting some very long shadows with anti-terrorism and sedition legislation enforcing political spin and intimidation.
Rationally, we could think that nothing bad could happen to us here in Australia for making a film that questioned the legitimacy of government actions. But as stories of extraordinary rendition began to surface, we wondered just how safe we were? We would continue on but what about our children? Were they safe? We could feel first hand how fear fuels doubt. The interview footage we were sitting on, at that time, in that climate, was quite explosive. We were acting alone, no friends in high places, no organisation around us to provide cover.
In the face of all this, it’s easy to imagine why it’s so hard for people to rally to challenge unaccountable power. But that also adds further to the extraordinariness of the World Peace March. The invasion of Iraq was going ahead, no matter what. Those who marched were not to know that and this betrayal of goodwill by governments has provided enormous fuel to people, like ourselves, to move past the political ‘fairy tale’ version of peace building to directly target the real thing.
Inevitably, real peace is as much a personal journey as it is a global issue. Bringing these things together is the magic of the film. It works on you. It seeps into those deeper layers of consciousness where there is no difference between the world ‘out there’ and the world ‘in here’. By the way it was put together, the film has an interconnecting life all of it’s own.
It’s 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 2003 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 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 rise 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 the 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 in ensuring democratic health 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 it asks of them. It’s jam packed and brings 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