Hulbert Street Movies
Hulbert Street Movies
A couple of years ago we came across the Transition Town movement. Based on the idea that as climate change and peak oil depletion bite the way we live will undergo radical change, this grass roots movement assumes that if we act appropriately the place we end up could be better than where we are now. By reducing our consumption and redirecting our activity to the local area we live in, we can build more resilient and connected communities and live simpler but more satisfying lives.
The first step towards creating a Transition Town is to spread awareness of the changes we 
are undergoing to as broad an audience as possible. The next step is to get people to envisage a positive future and work towards that.
Although not brave enough to try and “transition Fremantle”, we decided to start screening some of the excellent movies available depicting both the huge crises we face and some of the proactive positive responses people all over the world are making.
We started with a movie screened for Hulbert Street. We parked a truck across the street, 
tied a sheet to the side of it for a screen, balanced the data projector on a bin, and the laptop in a wheelbarrow and invited our neighbours to bring along bean bags and popcorn.
The crowd grew each time we screened a movie until we had up to 150 people sharing food and conversation on the “Hulbert Street Common”. We find as some of the movies can be quite confronting it is good to view them in the company of like mined folk to help with debriefing afterwards.
Our summer movies have proved so popular that this year we decided to continue them over the winter, making use of our local council reception room. Movies are currently screened on the third Friday of each month.
Movies we have screened include: Power Of Community, End of Suburbia and the sequel Escape from SurburbiaHomegrown Revolution and Homegrown – from the Path to Freedom family, Who killed the electric car?, Flow – for love of water, Crude – the incredible journey of oil, One Man One Cow One Planet, Australia’s Pumping Empty, The Future of Food, 
Transition Town- the movie, Garbage Warriors, End of the Line, Food Inc etc etc
Sometimes people say “sure but aren’t you preaching to the converted?” Rather than seeing this as a negative thing we always respond that the movies allow the converted to continue to be motivated and make changes in their lives and community.
If you are interested in attending a Hulbert Street Movie Night, please email Shani on stay@thepaintedfish.com.au and she will add you to the email list!
Below is a report from one of our first movie nights, written by a visitor from Broome Gillian Kennedy (now living in East Timor!)
Building community spirit at the Painted Fish
It’s a balmy Saturday evening in South Fremantle. I’m on my way to The Painted Fish – a charming and friendly guesthouse that specialises in sustainable living practices. I’ve been invited here by the owners of the Painted Fish, Tim and Shani, who have organised a street movie tonight. I don’t know what the movie is, so I have no idea what to expect. All I was told was to bring a plate and something to sit on.
As I make my way along the leafy street, I notice that there’s something special about this place, different to any other suburban street I’ve visited before. Wheelbarrows with cherry tomatoes catch the sun on the front verge of one house; a skate ramp waits patiently for action outside another; I see a sculpture in a front yard; and there’s a splash of multicoloured paint in the middle of the road, perhaps from a street party… or maybe a kid’s painting gone wild.
There’s a hum of activity around. Some kids are helping Shani drag a three-seater couch up the hill to the end of the street where a large, multi-coloured truck is parked – a donation from a friend for the night to hold up the big screen. The food table is filling up with the arrival of colourful salads, slices and sweets, brought by eager movie-goers, and I’m not really surprised to see that the cuisine is as wholesome and diverse as the guests: Local kids, friendly neighbours, travellers, strangers, passers-by.
The sinking sun casts long shadows over the street which is beginning to look like a cross between an outdoor festival and a lounge-room. We pile up our plates and settle into our positions on couches, swags, pillows and picnic blankets. While a couple of young kids quietly stumble around the reclining bodies offering pieces of their homemade carrot cake, Shani makes her welcoming speech. She explains how her inspiration to put on such an event, like the handful of community events before this one, came from a book called “Transition Town” – a book that encourages a return to localised, community building. The film begins, and for the next 45 minutes the audience is captivated.
The movie is called “Australia’s Pumping Empty” and it is about the peak oil crisis in Australia. While the information was not necessarily new to many of the movie-goers, it was certainly a poignant reminder of the bleak future we could possibly face if we don’t all start acting now. Yet, the moral of the story is a positive and achievable one: Simplify our lives. Build communities. Grow your own veggies.
After the movie finishes, Shani hands around some questionnaires and coloured pencils. We are asked to form small groups with the people around us. “Try to sit with someone you don’t know,” Shani encourages us. We are asked to reflect on the movie and list practical things that we can do to “act local” – starting from now. The activity is designed to reinforce the message of the movie. Shani is an ex-school principal, so she knows how to make the mud stick.
As I’m working with my small groups of strangers, it dawns on me what is so special about this place. I’ve learnt something new. I’ve been inspired. I’ve had interesting conversations with people I’ve never met before. In fact, I am experiencing precisely the moral of the story in the movie: This is community.