Launch of web series: My So-Called Housing Cooperative

Craig Saddlemire, film-maker and founder-member of Faire Bande A Part in Lewiston, ME, writes:

October is Co-Op Month and the perfect time to release the first episode in a short web series I’m producing called My So-Called Housing Cooperative.

Episode 1: The New Member(s) will be released Monday, October 28th on Vimeo , Youtube , and Facebook. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3NP20XgIvg

My So-Called Housing Cooperative is the story of young adults trying to live a life of cooperation and compassion… without losing their minds. Each month’s webispode features a scripted parody based upon real life at the Faire Bande à Part Housing Cooperative (Faire-Op), a 3 story apartment building in Lewiston, ME. Founded in 2008 by four young idealists, the Faire-Op was Maine’s first fully occupied housing cooperative. Since 2008, every month has brought about hardships, miracles, and mayhem. Rather than sell a glorified vision of cooperative living, members of the Faire-Op felt it would be more entertaining and informative to foreground the unique challenges they face. Each episode, the story is comprised of memories, premonitions, and exagerations of real events. All of the characters in the show are played by actual Faire-Op members, but the twist is that each episode, one member performs the role of everyone. My So-Called Housing Cooperative is not just a program to educate others about cooperative living. It’s an opportunity for Faire-Op’ers to reflect on their home-spun experiment and consider – through roleplay – the perspective of their fellow housemates. After all, solidarity is no joke, but sometimes it can be pretty funny.

This project is an extension of the project, Household: Four Stories of Kinship and Curiosity, which you may learn about at the website http://householdmovie.org.