December 11th, 2009 by admin

When ever I have made films about environmental or humanitarian issues, or worked for aid organizations, I have seen one common cause to what ever problem they try to solve: They are either stopped or harmed by economic interests – not by evil, not by lack of resources, not by lack of knowledge or people wanting to help, but by money.

So a few years ago I started to think about what money actually is, and realized that no one seemed to question it. Pretty much all political debate revolves around who should be in control of the money, not the money itself. Why do we not question our economic system? Perhaps money is an outdated system?

There have been lots of documentaries and books on how monetary interests corrupt our democracy, how the hunt for profit destroys our environment, or exploits the developing world.

So I wanted to make a film to explore if there was an alternative to this mysterious concept, which controls my life, destroys my planet and exploits people. I went on a journey to look at solutions outside the mainstream debate.

93 year old futurist and social engineer Jacque Fresco’s ideas are central to the film. Future For Sale explores the connection between economy, environment and technology from a futurist perspective. It takes a step away from party politics and conspiracy theories and focuses on solutions outside our ordinary debate.

Today we are acutely aware of the problem posed by the “concept of free” because we’re realising how difficult it is to “monetize” in a world where more and more can be reproduced for free. To sustain value we have to keep products scarce and the demand high, which makes us dependent on systematic waste and unsustainable consumption.

Future For Sale explores the life’s work of Jacque Fresco, which is what he calls a Resource Based Economy. It defends the idea that there are more than enough resources in the world and that you don’t need money to distribute them; what you do need is a completely different use of technology. Effectively, a system that only develops and uses technology when it is for the benefit of all people and the environment.

The idea that technology can and will replace money sounds outrageous but has been around since the beginning of last century. It’s just something that people only seem to think about when the world is in crisis and that is why this film and Jacque’s ideas are relevant today.

Since October 2008 a new activist movement supporting Jacque Fresco’s direction (The Zeitgeist Movement) went from a few hundreds to over 350 000 members world wide. The film gives us a look at the world from a different, playful perspective, where the characters, who first sound either mad or utopian, have something very valuable to offer.

The journey is a structural device, but more importantly a mental journey that allows both my character and the audience to see possibilities in the advancement of modern society, rather than focusing on the problems it has created.

Having done this journey, I am convinced we have the global capacity to live a far richer life, emotionally and practically, and I think we will have to update our economic system whether we want to or not.

MB

Future for Sale is in postproduction and released in 2010.