ORIGIN STORY... |
|
The floor was cool at the Bangor International Airport. It was March 2013, and mud season on unceded Wabanaki land was in full glory. Maine locals were flying south for Spring Break. Graduate students in the UMaine School of Policy & International Affairs, Kate Kirby and Willa Sheikh, were taking an unorthodox approach to the final semester, as their colleagues prepared for jobs with the United Nations and the FBI. “Want to film a documentary together over spring break?” Kirby had asked Sheikh as they bonded over their passion for community-building and food justice. Willa had spent that summer living in refugee camps on the Somali-Kenya border, documenting women’s experiences accessing health care. In true Willa fashion, she was down for anything. Kirby's longtime friend and exchange sister, Natalia Valdivia Salinas, was flying up from Chile to join the power trio of first-time filmmakers in Bolivia, where they would research Quinoa production. In true Kirby fashion, Kate was on the floor at the gate finishing-up a project for a Grant Writing course as people were boarding the plane. The assignment was to create a fictional organization that would be applying for funding... |
|
|
The birth of “Kindred Planet Productions” (KPP) was instinctual, heart-driven, and organic, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
The dream: “To capture the interconnectedness of a 21st century world, raise awareness, and inspire change by bringing into focus stories from the margins.” |
Kindred Planet Productions |
|
Over the years, KPP has grown in big and beautiful ways. We have endeavored to integrate a just and compassionate approach to documentary filmmaking, digital media creation, and event production at all stages of project lifecycle. From Bolivia, to Laos, to Wabanaki territory, to Standing Rock, to evangelical universities, our projects have taken on a life of their own, evolving us as individuals, in a perpetual state of experimentation and learning. We are a dynamic body of changemakers around the globe, sharing stories and building spaces, experiences, and communities where people can connect in kinship with each other and the planet. We invite you to explore our current offerings!
|
|
A NEW CHAPTER |
|
In winter of 2021, two Kindred Planet scouts embarked on a 19-month journey of residencies in experimental communities around the world. Their travels took them deep into the jurassic Costa Rican jungle, on to a magical art forest of Eastern European Georgia, to the enchanting Italian countryside, a Slovenian hilltop village, an ecofeminist squat in Spain, an island of misfit toys in Thailand, concluding at a whimsical urban circus collective in Quebecois Canada.
As the discovery phase comes to a close, we are taking the next step in the creation of a multicultural land-based community, connected to a web of rural and urban world-building enclaves around the planet... |
