A few weeks ago, I managed to put together a proper piece about our journey to Scotland, and what it was like to show our documentary ‘Purpose‘ in different parts of the country. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time right now to do the same for our Scandinavian tour — which we did entirely by train, and which we completed a few days ago. (Here is the website that we used to help promote these events.)
But I did write a LinkedIn post about every stop along the journey, and I will use excerpts here, so I can provide at least a quick overview. For the full text for each location, do click through to the respective LinkedIn post (link above the photos).
Our first stop on the trip was Copenhagen, Denmark:
“Copenhagen gave us such a wonderful reception! Last night, we showed ‘Purpose’ in Cinema 2 of the beautiful Empire Cinema in Copenhagen. And man, it was probably the best-sounding screening I have attended so far. It takes a great cinema to really bring out all the work you have put into a film’s post production, and Empire is just such a cinema. We are incredibly grateful to the amazing Rose Holm and Marianne With 🌳 who have put in a massive amount of work to pull this off and sell out the room! Big thank you also to my old friend and fellow traveller Mads Falkenfleth Jensen who managed to join us for a very rapid after-film panel, despite already being en route to the Wellbeing Economy Forum in Reykjavik. Massive thank you also to Dani Hill-Hansen🌱 as our third panelist, who added the viewpoint of a sustainability-driven activist architect to the discussion. Lastly, I need to thank my partner in crime and Impact Producer Juan Pistone without whom none of this would be possible.”
Then, on to Malmö, Sweden:
“In Malmö at Panora Cinema, Carys Egan-Wyer PhD joined my fellow filmmaker Cecilia Paulsson and me for our after-film discussion. To me, it felt like Carys’ work in the field of critical marketing research connects surprisingly well with the things we focus on in our story about creating wellbeing economies. She explained in the session that critical research tries to lay bare the power structures that make us follow or remain in certain behavioural patterns, or consider certain pathways as the only ones available to us — when in reality, we could be doing things very differently.”
Next stop along the way in Sweden was Stockholm:
“Stockholm, stop three on our Nordic Tour with ‘Purpose — A Wellbeing Economies Film’! Last night was an incredible experience — in part because of the location the Swedish WEAll team (Wellbeing Economy Alliance Sweden) picked: Bacchi Syre is a place unlike most others — it’s a bar, vegan restaurant, event space, co-working space, podcast studio (under construction), soon maybe also a bike repair shop … and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things. If you’re ever in Stockholm, do check it out and say hello to Dan Ferna; he runs the place.”
Our third stop in Sweden was Gothenburg:
“Last night, our Nordic Tour took us to Gothenburg’s wonderful Hagabion Cinema. The Hagabion is an incredibly fitting place for a ‘Purpose’ screening since it is emblematic of some of the economic rethinking that we need these days, and that our film is talking about. This quote from the website probably explains it best: ‘”‘Hagabion is running thanks to our 100+ active members, who are voluntarily screening the movies, selling tickets and introducing the movies on a weekly schedule. As well as doing all the other important, daily tasks neccessary to run a cinema, together with our half a dozen employees. Anyone is welcome to join the movement by simply attending one of our meetings for introducing new members.’”
And finally, off to Oslo in Norway:
“The screening in Oslo was organised by the fledgling WEAll Hub in Norway (WEAll Norge – Wellbeing Economy Alliance Norway): Thomas Røkås and Maria Eintveit gave us a warm welcome, helped me set up for the screening, and ran an inspiring and inspired evening. The location was the 5th floor of Sentralen – a building that hosts sustainability projects, start-ups, a cafe and a restaurant, and had the kind of vibe that suits our film. The discussion after the film was very rich and animated, we also touched on some darker themes — like how to deal with hope in times like these — and left the place once again richer with ideas, friends, and a better understanding of the challenges that lie ahead.”
And then, on the last day, I rode five trains all the way from Oslo back to Berlin. And that worked quite well!
I would like to particularly thank my friend and Impact Producer Juan Pistone at this point, for masterfully wrestling with the Herculean task of coordinating all the screenings of our Nordic Tour, and turning all of them into one seamless journey. There is no way I could have done this without him.