Intentional Community

Intentional Community – The art of living and the science of life (2017)

Nick Jordan & Clara Casian
Single Channel Digital Video
60 mins

Intentional Community is a documentary portrait of Braziers Park School of Integrative Social Research (Braziers). Centred upon insights from current residents and members, the film layers together scenes of daily life with the natural features, architectural characteristics and diverse cultural history of the community.

Set in the wider context of intentional communities, sustainability, and the economics of post-capitalism, the film explores the ‘biosocial’ ideas of Braziers’ founders, psychiatrist Norman Glaister and educationalist Dorothy Glaister, who established the community in 1950 as a social experiment in collective living.

Structured in a collaged, interwoven manner, the film makes a correspondence between the past and present, combing interior and exterior spaces of the gothic manor house with material from Braziers’ archive of photographs, audio recordings and film; including scenes from a Situationist gathering in 1964, attended by writers Alexander Trocchi and Jeff Nuttall, artist John Latham and psychiatrist R.D. Laing. Intentional Community also explores Braziers’ connections to the Common Wealth political party, the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry/Kibbo Kift and Grith Fyrd peace camps, reflecting Braziers’ deep-rooted social values, ecologically-minded thinking and historic links to progressive ideas and the Counterculture.

Filmed, edited & directed by Nick Jordan & Clara Casian
Original soundtrack score: Lord Mong o

Intentional Community – The art of living and the science of life

Intentional Community – The art of living and the science of life (excerpt)

Film Stills: