‘Normal Is Over’ premiere at Labia Theatre

I have seen so many movies about the decline on our planet. What more is there to learn? How to keep strong when you know so much?

But there is a local film maker, Renée Scheltema (pictured, right) from the Netherlands originally, who has dedicated the past 5 years of her life – and mostly her own funds – to travel the world and construct a film to communicate this message with clarity and hope, looking at the causes and possible solutions.

The SA premiere of her film ‘Normal Is Over’ is next week at the Labia theatre in Cape Town from 5-7 August, followed by discussions by imminent environmentalists whom I hugely admire, like Dr. Ian McCallum and the environmental attorney Cormac Cullinan.

The film was launched in Europe recently and won the Best of Show award from the Cinema Verde film festival.

To me this film offers a holistic view of the broken systems which inform our current dilemma. And if we know how they were constructed we can start finding our way home to a world that honours life above economic growth and health above profit.

Quotes from this film have permeated my mind like fresh compost to fertilise and seed new ways of going forward. All inspiration for the soul – some hard hitting, some old knowledge in a new jacket, but all useful on our journey towards a sustainable world:

• Are we killing ourselves for money?
• The solution has to do with the difference between illusion and reality.
• Economic growth is dead.
• When things aren’t sustainable, they stop.
• We are borrowing on our planetary credit card. While you’re borrowing, things look good. But how to pay it back?
• When we lose species we lose something in ourselves.
• Animals are in our blood.
• Keystone individuals are people who make a difference in their own way.
• The end of shopping.

• Women make over 70% of shopping decisions.
• We are in the final hour.
• We’ve reached a hell, not a paradise.
• Everyone consumes more, rather than working less.
• We should tax materials more and people less.
• The conversion of the gift economy into the money economy has severed our relations with each other.
• Decaying money is something we should embrace.
• We will either change before 2020 or it’s going to be very messy.
• People and environment matter instead of profit.
• We’re going to have to mobilize as if we’re at war, because we are.
• The myth is the myth of separation. For the connected self more for you is more for me.
• Saving civilisation is not a spectator sport.
• You can make history, or you can be vilified by it.
• Only when you stop running to catch your breath do you realize you’re already there.

If you cannot make it to the premiere, watch this film online. The small donation is a contribution towards a brave woman and her lone journey of communicating via the most effective medium of our time. Please help our cause by passing this message on to your friends and colleagues. How about organising viewings in your area?

This news needs to spread – our future depends on it.

Event details

When: August Fri 5, Sat 6 and Sun 7 @ 6.15 p.m.
Where: Labia Theatre. Orange street 68, Cape Town
Price: R45
Start: 6.15 p.m.
Booking: Tel. 021- 4245927.
Contact: Info@NormalisOverTheMovie.com

See you there!

By Elma Pollard