the composting process

Dear followers of the Holy Crap! film project, interested parties, curious ones and smellers of good ideas,  today I write to you with a true update as to how this project is progressing.

From start to finish this has been one of the most incredible learning curves of my life!  I have felt so many times like I am way out to sea in a vast ocean of footage, choices, perspectives, and options for how to obtain and present this material to you in a meaningful, compelling, engaging, smart way that brings positive and plentiful attention to the work of SOIL (www.oursoil.org), who pointed the funds in my direction so that I might do just that.

So far with the help of 3 crew members volunteering a great deal of their time, a couple of primary consultants (also donating their time), a 10-day film-shoot in Haiti, over 20-hours of footage with 3 different audio tracks and roughly 2,000 still photographs to choose from and with the help of 2 different editors, we have made 3 versions with about 20 different micro-variations to narrow down the best way to work with the material that we have.

In this process I have consulted with many people, relied heavily on people far more experienced than I, floundered, f*ed up, and forced myself to keep going because I am thrilled to be the one who gets to tell the story of SOIL to the world and hopefully, it will be heard.

It's such a great story!

And it is making a huge difference in the lives of thousands of people in Port au Prince and Cap Haitien, Haiti, as well as in many other places around the world.  I am hoping to get to tell this story further beyond SOIL's work in Haiti, to the methane-gas used to run vehicles in Bristol, England -- to the eco-san projects happening throughout Africa, to Asia, and wherever else it's happening, because I think that is one of the most remarkable things in the whole world right now, that we can transform our own human waste into a valuable -- even - an INvaluable -- resource.

WILD!  and INCREDIBLE.

So I am launching a Kickstarter campaign and gearing up to submit a piece to the Possible Futures Film Festival, deadline June 21.

Some people think the Holy Crap! title is too crass.  Some people think it is hilarious and awesome. Some people think it is slightly offensive.  Some people say it should be used in a more subtle way.

To me, it is the perfect irony and I am choosing to stay with it.  I'm sure over time we will continue tweaking the way it is used, how we present it graphically, and how to make it accessible to a wider and wider audience.

In the meantime, hold tight because our next one-minute promo version is coming your way I promise, very very soon.

Check out our website (still in development) at:
www.holycrapthefilm.com

E mesi anpil anpil pou tout bagay nou ap fe pou late' la

(and thank you so much for everything YOU're doing for the world)

Jenny JUP Benorden
Producer, Director, and Chief Composter for "Holy Crap!" -- the film