Filmed just last year, the documentary uses the Mayan 2012 prophecies as a point of departure to explore how people can fall back in love with Mother Nature, to save both themselves and the planet. It features 17 speakers from around the world, including noted medical anthropologist and shaman Dr. Alberto Villoldo, Philip Carr-Gomm, who is head of England's Order of the Bards, Ovates and Druids, Dr William Bloom of the Foundation for Holistic Spirituality, and Hawaiian Kahuna Haleaka Iolani Pule Dooley.

"The point of departure for our documentary is the fact that the Mayan calendar ends on the December solstice in 2012," said Billie Dean, who directed the project and also appears in it. "There are prophecies associated with this time in many indigenous cultures, including the Mayan, the Hopi, and the Inca. There's also a growing swell of apocalyptic thinking - doom and gloom scenarios - that will be getting more and more attention as we get closer to that date. Certainly Hollywood will be doing its part to stoke the fear, with at least two disaster films already scheduled."

"Our speakers delivered a consistent message of hope for theses times, based on the different schools of wisdom that they come from," said Andrew Einspruch. "They all said that this is a time of great opportunity - for personal transformation, for deep inner work, and for coming back into a relationship with nature. We believe that our disconnection from the natural world as fundamental to the problems we face today, and our speakers deliver lots of practical wisdom that if each one of us followed would see a massive change to the planet."

The hour documentary has the lightness of spirit, humour and warmth people have come to expect from Billie and Andrew's work. This is their third major project, after the locally shot feature film "Finding Joy" and their "dog-umentary" "Seven Days with Seven Dogs". It features uplifting music from a number of artists who have appeared in their other work, including Canberra's own Tribe World Ensemble, and formerly Canberra-based Malumba.

And the film has already started to garner an excellent response. A rough cut of the documentary received a standing ovation from a packed cinema earlier this year in Perth.

DVDs of "This Sacred Earth: The 2012 Phenomenon" are available from Studio Altenberg or from the web site www.ThisSacredEarth.tv.