On a September evening as the sun slanted through open windows, we sat talking with filmmaker Joel Christian McEwen  in his modest tree-house-like home with its view between houses of the silvery Pacific Ocean. 

Overhead, an ancient Cypress tree soughed and waved in the breeze; the front steps marched up from their beginnings in a wide garden tumbled with lavender and Echinacea.  All three of Joel’s big white dogs were out of reach.  It was a beautiful, still evening – the kind Californians take for granted. 

Inside, though, Joel was all electricity and joy as he showed us the trailer for his new documentary film, American Dream, The Movie  (“Every aspect of our global ecosystem is seriously threatened by the way we live.”).   The film, which features Danny Glover and Ed Begley, Jr. among others, is set for an early 2008 distribution by John Raatz (11^th hour, What the Bleep Do We Know, Baraka, Mindwalk).   

Later, we were joined by other members of Joel’s team – Manuel Maqueda from Spain and Theresa – to continue our talk over an Italian dinner.  The film has evolved to be a snapshot of what I believe is a success of capitalism and free enterprise:  material wealth.  But the system has run amok and now “Over 75% of American workers between 25-49 would like to see a return to a simpler society with less emphasis on material wealth,” says American Dream, The Movie. 

How does this tie in to the current Networked Economy?  Rule #6:  Let Go at the Top. “As innovation accelerates, abandoning the highly successful in order to escape from its eventual obsolescence becomes the most difficult and yet most essential task.”

Waking up to our choice to let go of the unsustainable pace at which 5% of the world’s population (Americans) use 30% of the world’s resources [American Dream, The Movie] can open the door for a new societal vision (mine):  honoring and developing each individual, not things.   

Enjoy the trailer and please contact Joel if you’re interested in supporting the film.