Director Ondi Timoner was at a conference when she met the man who would take her on a journey into the Panamanian jungle. <\/p>\n
Entrepreneur Jimmy Stice is the man behind the creation of a sustainable town called Kalu Yala, built in the heart of the jungle by the idealistic students he attracts there. <\/p>\n
\"I'd never heard anyone say they were building a town. He asked me if I'd come down and help him to tell this story and as soon as I walked into the place I was sold and thought 'this must be documented',\" Timoner said. <\/p>\n
\"I looked at this place and the people in it and I realised this was an opportunity to look at young people engaging actively in trying to come up with new ways to live sustainably, at a time where all of us must.\" <\/p>\n
The director knew she could make something suspenseful based on the dramas involved in creating this place, but she also wanted to make a documentary series showing a different side to the young people living there. <\/p>\n
\"At the same time that it's about the environment, it's really also about millennials, and it's a look at millennials from a very intimate standpoint because when you wake up in the jungle you can't go put make-up on or prepare yourself for the day to go meet people, you are in a real community in the way that we don't live any more,\" she said. <\/p>\n
She moved there with her crew, building a media centre operating off solar power and created the docu-series Jungletown, set to air on SBS Viceland. <\/p>\n
It wasn't easy but in her time spent living there, mostly off the grid, Timoner could see its appeal. <\/p>\n
\"It's an amazing place, it'd change your life.,\" she said. <\/p>\n
\"For these kids - many of whom you'll see rebel, some of whom you'll see leave - it's the most profound experience they've ever had in their lives. It can be really challenging to be there and it puts you in a very raw state where you get to see the most authentic version of everyone around you.\" <\/p>\n
*Jungletown airs on SBS VICELAND from July 18 <\/p>\n
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New show discovers man-made jungle utopia - News.com.au - NEWS.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Director Ondi Timoner was at a conference when she met the man who would take her on a journey into the Panamanian jungle. Continue reading