Uploaded May 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Dougald Hine – writer, social thinker, and co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project – has spent years exploring how people might live meaningfully in an age of ecological, cultural, and social unraveling.
In this short documentary, Dougald and Anna Björkman transform an abandoned shoe shop in the small Swedish town of Östervåla into a living gathering place for conversation, music, storytelling, craft, hospitality, and human connection.
What begins as an old family cobbler’s shop slowly becomes something rare in modern life:
a space where people meet face to face, share meals, exchange skills, rebuild local culture, and explore slower, more grounded ways of living together.
The film touches on themes of community, collapse, resilience, simple living, folk culture, local belonging, regenerative culture, ecological living, anti-consumerism, and the search for meaning in uncertain times.
Inspired in part by the thinking of Ivan Illich, and resonating with conversations around Charles Eisenstein, Tyson Yunkaporta, post-growth culture, and human-scale living, “The Shoe Shop” explores what it might mean to create a living culture where we are.
Featuring reflections on old-growth forests, hospitality, village life, storytelling, craftsmanship, and the possibility that healing begins not through grand solutions, but through relationships worth trusting.
Featuring:
Dougald Hine & Anna Björkman
A School Called HOME – aschoolcalledhome.org
Guest artists:
Caroline Ross
Theresa Emmerich Kamper
Music by Arvid Rask
https://www.kolonien.nu/about
Sound mix by Boris Laible
borislaible.com
Directed by Mattias Olsson
Campfire Stories – campfire-stories.org
This film is part of the Something Beautiful for the World series — a collaboration between Reflections of Life, Campfire Stories, and Happen Films.
Watch the full series here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLye1JIzaiQ6rKe40SkcSWqoC_sn4v_vIY
Campfire Stories
Follow us on Youtube: youtube.com/@campfire-stories/featured
Visit our website: campfire-stories.org
Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/mattiasolsson
Reflections of Life
Follow us on Youtube: youtube.com/@ReflectionsofLife
Visit our website: https://reflectionsof.life/
Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/reflectionsoflife/posts
Happen Films
Follow us on Youtube: youtube.com/@happenfilms
Visit our website: happenfilms.com
Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/happenfilms/posts
A huge thank you to the following kind folks, who've given so generously of their time to help provide subtitles for the film:
Bulgarian: Polina Stoyanova
Croatian: Davor Bobanac
Dutch: Karla Greven
(English: Mattias Olsson)
French: Amélie Macoin
German: Tanja Pütz
Indonesian: Ary Nuansa
Italian: Grazia Gironella
Slovak: Zuzana Beračova
Spanish: Patricia Aguirre
(Swedish: Mattias Olsson)
Dougald Hine – writer, social thinker, and co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project – has spent years exploring how people might live meaningfully in an age of ecological, cultural, and social unraveling.
In this short documentary, Dougald and Anna Björkman transform an abandoned shoe shop in the small Swedish town of Östervåla into a living gathering place for conversation, music, storytelling, craft, hospitality, and human connection.
What begins as an old family cobbler’s shop slowly becomes something rare in modern life:
a space where people meet face to face, share meals, exchange skills, rebuild local culture, and explore slower, more grounded ways of living together.
The film touches on themes of community, collapse, resilience, simple living, folk culture, local belonging, regenerative culture, ecological living, anti-consumerism, and the search for meaning in uncertain times.
Inspired in part by the thinking of Ivan Illich, and resonating with conversations around Charles Eisenstein, Tyson Yunkaporta, post-growth culture, and human-scale living, “The Shoe Shop” explores what it might mean to create a living culture where we are.
Featuring reflections on old-growth forests, hospitality, village life, storytelling, craftsmanship, and the possibility that healing begins not through grand solutions, but through relationships worth trusting.
Featuring:
Dougald Hine & Anna Björkman
A School Called HOME – aschoolcalledhome.org
Guest artists:
Caroline Ross
Theresa Emmerich Kamper
Music by Arvid Rask
https://www.kolonien.nu/about
Sound mix by Boris Laible
borislaible.com
Directed by Mattias Olsson
Campfire Stories – campfire-stories.org
This film is part of the Something Beautiful for the World series — a collaboration between Reflections of Life, Campfire Stories, and Happen Films.
Watch the full series here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLye1JIzaiQ6rKe40SkcSWqoC_sn4v_vIY
Campfire Stories
Follow us on Youtube: youtube.com/@campfire-stories/featured
Visit our website: campfire-stories.org
Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/mattiasolsson
Reflections of Life
Follow us on Youtube: youtube.com/@ReflectionsofLife
Visit our website: https://reflectionsof.life/
Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/reflectionsoflife/posts
Happen Films
Follow us on Youtube: youtube.com/@happenfilms
Visit our website: happenfilms.com
Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/happenfilms/posts
A huge thank you to the following kind folks, who've given so generously of their time to help provide subtitles for the film:
Bulgarian: Polina Stoyanova
Croatian: Davor Bobanac
Dutch: Karla Greven
(English: Mattias Olsson)
French: Amélie Macoin
German: Tanja Pütz
Indonesian: Ary Nuansa
Italian: Grazia Gironella
Slovak: Zuzana Beračova
Spanish: Patricia Aguirre
(Swedish: Mattias Olsson)
