No Impact Man
Synopsis
Author Colin Beavan and his family were a perfect example of SUV driving, fast food eating New Yorkers who would assuage their guilt with the rest of us at the mall for some good old American retail therapy. Then Colin turned things upside down—he came home and announced that for his next book he would become No Impact Man. For starters that would mean no trash, no electricity, no cars, no toilet paper, no TV, and no buying anything new for an entire year. The hitch was that he wanted his wife and their two-year-old daughter Isabella to join him for this year-long experiment.
NO IMPACT MAN presents an intimate emotional portrait of a couple struggling through a severe and protracted change in their way of life. The filmmakers document what happens to a couple's emotional life when they alter their entire lifestyle over the course of a year. How do they cope with the constant stress and intermittent crises of such a rigorous way of living? Or, perhaps, when life is pared down, do some things become unexpectedly better and even easier?
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The Filmmakers
Justin Schein Director/ Cinematographer
Justin Schein is a documentary film director and cinematographer who has shot over 60 films internationally for broadcasters including HBO, National Geographic, The BBC, The Discovery Channel and PBS. Along side NO IMPACT MAN: THE DOCUMENTARY, Justin is currently in production on several other documentary projects. He is shooting and co-directing UPSIDE-DOWN AND BACKWARDS, a hybrid documentary and animated film about dyslexia with Academy Award winning producer Peggy Stern. He recently finished shooting IMAGINING PEACE, where he and Emmy Award winning filmmaker Lisa Gossels spent 5 years documenting the lives of six Israeli and Palestinian teenaged girls. He also served as co-director of photography with Albert Maysles last summer on THE FOUR SEASONS, a film about a group of Holocaust survivor's final year together in the Catskills. Justin received his Masters in Documentary Filmmaking from Stanford University and went on to found Shadowbox Films with fellow graduate David Mehlman in 1998. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, filmmaker Eden Wurmfeld, and their son Micah.
Laura Gabbert Director/Producer
Laura Gabbert produced and directed the documentary, THE HEALERS OF 400 PARNASSUS while in graduate school at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television. HEALERS aired on PBS, was distributed worldwide by Films Transit and won a 1997 National Educational Media Silver Apple Award. Laura associate produced the ITVS feature TARANTELLA starring Mira Sorvino. Gabbert produced the critically acclaimed Sundance Competition feature GETTING TO KNOW YOU, which had its European premiere as the opening night film for critic's week at the Venice Film Festival.
Most recently she directed and produced the critically acclaimed feature length documentary SUNSET STORY, which premiered at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival (Special Jury Prize) and won the Audience Award at the 2003 IFP/Los Angeles Film Festival. SUNSET STORY opened theatrically in 2005 and aired nationally on PBS in March 2005. She is currently co-writing and producing the film adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' novel Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon. Laura earned her MFA from UCLA's School of Film, Theater and Television and was honored with the 2004 UCLA Producers Program Distinguished Alumni Award.
Eden Wurmfeld Producer
Wurmfeld began her producing career in 1994 on her brother's experimental feature FANCI'S PERSUASION. Since then she has worked with Doug Liman on SWINGERS, SEE JANE RUN, and others. She produced the award-winning indie feature KISSING JESSICA STEIN, which was acquired by Fox Searchlight to hit success at the box office.
In 2006 Eden produced Gideon Raff's feature debut, THE KILLING FLOOR, followed by Adam Carolla's big-screen debut, THE HAMMER, which premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival to rave reviews and will be distributed by The Weinstein Company.
Wurmfeld co-authored The IFP/Los Angeles Independent Filmmaker's Manual (Focal Press), a 'cookbook' on indie filmmaking, which is used in film studies courses across the country. The second edition is currently in bookstores. Wurmfeld earned her MFA from UCLA's Film School from which she received an alumni award last year. She was named one of Variety's "10 Producers to Watch for 2002" and she was a finalist for the 2003 Indie Spirit Motorola Producers Award.
Festivals & Awards
Sundance Film Festival
2009
Official Selection
Silverdocs Film Festival
2009
Official Selection
True/False Film Fest
2009
Hot Docs
2009
Official Selection
Los Angeles Film Festival
2009
Official Selection
Reviews
“Proof that "eco" and "entertainment" aren't mutually exclusive, NO IMPACT MAN may be a socially progressive, environmentally conscious film, but it goes down far easier than, say, an all-natural, fiber-enriched peanut butter sandwich without a glass of soy milk.”
“With subject matter this interesting it becomes difficult to critique the film and not the people being filmed. That being said, Gabbert and Schein have done an impressive job at documenting the No Impact project.”
“You'll appreciate and enjoy the Beavans' struggles from the cloth diapers to the traditional refrigerator that wasn't meant to be, and, perhaps, be moved to embrace similar changes. That's an impact Beavan would be happy to leave.”
“Walking out of directors Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein's terrifically entertaining new documentary, NO IMPACT MAN, which followed writer Colin Beavan and his family as they sought to transform their lives into ones that would have no harmful ecological impact on the world, I felt energized -- if we all just did a little, imagine...”