Doing Nothing All Day

There are schools where children are allowed to learn what they want, how they want and when they want. The question is, if children are given freedom, will they take responsibility for their own education?

On her research tour the young mother spoke to students, activists, scientists and many others - e.g. with the founder of the first democratic school in Israel Yaakov Hecht, the Summerhill teacher Leonard Turton, the teacher and the former school inspector Derry Hannam, the co-founder of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development Wolfgang Edelstein and the neurobiologist Gerald Hüther. She also visited private and public schools in Israel, Germany and the UK. There she discovered the advantages and challenges of self-determined education.

Many people contributed their own Super-8 films to this documentary. The task given to participants in this experimental film project was to choose one of the democratic principles, e.g. freedom, responsibility or individuality, and to freely interpret it into a film.
“Grassroots democracy” is not only shown but also practiced.
The film-making concept is unlike any other worldwide: our film team also worked together democratically! Therefore, the making of the film actually mirrors the subject of the film itself.

DOING NOTHING ALL DAY - FREISTUNDE is dedicated to anyone who is interested in new forms of learning: e.g. teachers, students, parents, educational researchers and politicians.
The documentary aims to broaden the public debate on education by exploring the option of self-determined learning.

We would like to release DOING NOTHING ALL DAY for direct distribution in German cinemas, film festivals and education events, as well as on DVD and Blue-ray.
The documentary was made to draw attention to democratic education as a humanitarian approach to learning. To support this aim, we also plan to organise education events with panel discussions, where students from democratic schools can engage in discourse with educational scientists and politicians.

Furthermore, we would like to publish a tie-in book on democratic education with transcripted interviews and articles by our interview partners and many other fascinating students, teachers, parents, school founders and educational scientists.

This book would include interviews with and articles by the following individuals: Claire Boonstra, Simone Haenen, Derry Hannam, Prof. Dr. Gerald Hüther, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Edelstein, Leonhard Turton, Zoe Readhead-Neill, Margret Rasfeld, the Sappir family, the Peschel family, and many others.

This means that it would finally be possible to read the interviews that unfortunately could not be included in the film.
So - we ask that you please continue donating towards the publication of the book, even after we have reached our funding goals for the film! - Thank you!

What form of education is the best for children in such a rapidly changing society?
What skills will they need for the future? What will be more important: the knowledge of many facts or the ability to find good solutions in a team?
What important lessons must be learned in childhood to ensure that the many cultures in our societies are able to co-exist in peace? Is academic knowledge more important than social skills that empower communities?
These are some of the questions that were posed and discussed in this inspiring film project.

As explained in detail by the scientists who were interviewed for our experimental documentary film FREISTUNDE, every human being learns by trial and error.
The manner in which the contributed Super-8 films were made is a perfect illustration of the unconstrained and imaginative process associated with natural learning.
The focus was not on mistakes but on the multitude of possibilities and perspectives that arise in the process. In this sense, self-determined education represents a return to the natural process of learning that is often neglected in the traditional discourse on education.

By supporting this project, you are helping us raise the profile of self-determined education among educational researchers, teachers in training, pupils and parents.

If we surpass our funding goal by a significant amount, we will be able to prepare and publish a tie-in book to the film. This book would contain interviews and articles from all interview partners relevant to democratic education – even those that could unfortunately not be included in the film. So please keep donating even after our funding goal is reached! – We really appreciate your support!

The money will go directly to the financing of colour grading for the cinema and DVD versions, as well as graphic work, production work for the cinema release and a premiere for everyone who contributed to DOING NOTHING ALL DAY - FREISTUNDE.
This project is being organised in cooperation with the non-profit European Democratic Education Community (EUDEC) - so you can also get a receipt for income tax purposes.

In concrete terms, this means that, if we reach our fundraising goal, we will be able to cover the following expenses:

The music rights for Paul Simon’s song 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover can be purchased. This song appears in a scene of the film during an English lesson at the free democratic school “Kapriole”. Without the music rights, the film cannot be shown in public. Please help, so that we can afford to buy the music rights!

The postproduction work for the TV and cinema release of DOING NOTHING ALL DAY - FREISTUNDE, e.g. colour grading and sound mixing, can be funded, along with half of the planned submission fees for international film festivals, the German premiere, the DVD and Blu-ray production with booklet and the completion of this campaign, with its self-designed rewards and payment for the Startnext services.

Once we have passed our fundraising goal, we can invest even more in the promotion of the film:
for example, we would be able to pay the costs for one or two team members and for students to travel to film festivals and education events and to organise panel discussions to spread the word about self-determined education.

In addition to their volunteer work, the complete team of DOING NOTHING ALL DAY - FREISTUNDE have agreed to defer their salaries. We would like to pay one third of these salaries now. The remaining portion of the salaries can be financed by the sale of DVDs.

Finally, additional funding would enable us to publish a tie-in book to supplement the documentary. (For more info on content, see also project goal.)

If we surpass our fundraising target, we can make this book a reality!

Your support makes it possible!
Many thanks for your help!