By Andrew Ashton

The American director of a prize-winning environmental documentary film has said he owes his success to the two years he spent living at Stafford, near Hokitika.

Jules Dervaes’ short film Homegrown Revolution, about his 40-year journey to become self-sufficient, received an honourable mention as best short film at the Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival, in Palmerston North last week.

The former beekeeper and founder of the worldwide Urban Homesteading movement, which encourages urban dwellers to live a low-impact, self-sufficient lifestyle, said he owed his success to the inspiration he received from both the people and the countryside when he lived in Stafford during the 1970s.

“I owe a great debt of gratitude to several locals who taught me skills, gave me advice and kindly assisted me when I was in need of help in my struggle to become self-sufficient,” he said.

“My three adult children and I have recreated a modern version of the Stafford homestead on a 1/5th acre city lot in Pasadena, California, where we grow our own food organically and try to live a simple lifestyle.”

He said both the film and the Urban Homestead movement provided a “personal solution to an out-of-control, global crisis.”

Reel Earth festival co-ordinator Christine Coles said Mr Dervaes’ film impressed the judges with its upbeat, optimistic outlook and its ‘can do if you want to’ attitude.

“There is such an energy about it you feel you simply must either get started planting or if you’re a seasoned gardener it challenges you to reassess some of the traditional Yates Gardening techniques which we learned from our parents at about the time Jules Dervaes planted his first garden on the West Coast, 35 years ago,” she said.