The Challenge of Rudolf Steiner – Part II

A film screening in Keir Hall at the school on 5th October 2012

by Howard Smith

The film (made in 2011 to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Steiner’s birth) complements Part 1 (shown at Ringwood Waldorf School in May 2012) and gives additional biographical details of Steiner’s remarkable life.

The emphasis in this second film is on the renewal of culture through the diverse practical activities inspired through Steiner’s views of human nature including:

• footage of Waldorf Schools – in the UK,  America and India
• organisations based on Anthroposophical insights such as Biodynamic farms, Camphill and similar organisations devoted to special needs provision, and medical institutions
• an art teacher working in a Welsh prison, striving to re-awaken the sense of self-worth in prisoners through painting and drawing 
• a Church of England priest (a Cambridge-educated scientist) who has found Steiner’s research into the Gospels valuable in his work
• story of the success of the Bio-dynamic wine industry in California, which is chemical-free thanks to diverse planting
• a modern alchemist in his small workshop in Sacremento, striving to produce new biodynamic preparations
• the publicly funded but privately-run American “Charter Schools”  which are introducing ideas from the Waldorf Curriculum
• interviews with older Waldorf pupils at Michael Hall School, who clearly value the Class Teacher system with its Main Lessons
• an interview with the Head of the state-funded Hereford Steiner-Waldorf Academy (who has since left in order to set up an Academy in Frome)

Overall this film has been well-received, with over 4000 copies either sold or downloaded to date. Much interview material has been amassed in the making of the film, and there are plans to make some of the unused material available as extras.   If you’d like to see more for yourself, visit:

http://rudolfsteinerfilm.squarespace.com/cupola-productions 

• a 56 minute DVD specifically using the Waldorf Education material (£10 for DVD, or £5 to download)
• a 40-minute interview with Jack Petrash, a very experienced Class Teacher at the Washington Waldorf School