The Circle

The film follows a group of adults and their children who in the summer of 2014, decide to leave their customary life arrangement and start the first intentional eco- community in Estonia. Combining their savings, they buy an old manor, 3750 square meters of half-decayed buildings along with 33 hectares of agricultural land. Before them, the manor accommodated a nursing home. Five families move in – 12 adults and 6 children. Their experiment was inspired by spreading movement of eco- communities, in order to try out in a smaller constellation a new life arrangement that concentrates on non-violent harmonic relationships, co-operation, nature conservancy, permaculture and small human footprint. First, you have to demolish the mainstream society model starting from nuclear family and education to general consumption. The documentary by Margit Lillak follows the dramatic developments in a community in the period of five years, from honeymoon to collapse.