Sat. Apr. 28, 4:40pm
AHEAD FOR BUSINESS, II
PERFUME WAR – FEATURE DOC
Synopsis: Using the corporate world, a single mom creates an unlikely weapon in the fight for world peace after her best friend, a soldier, is almost killed by a terrorist. Barb Stegemann; Capt. Trevor Greene; Michael Melski, Director. Adult war themes. Canada
Questions by Kaylene Peoples | Responses by Barbara Stegemann (Author/Humanitarian)
Barbara, how did you come up with this idea to do this documentary?
After I appeared on the top reality business show in Canada, (CBC’s Dragons’ Den which the USA show Shark Tank is based upon), I received requests from a few film companies for them to do a documentary on us. But these groups faced many of the same issues, lack of funding and resources. So when my husband sold his business, we reached out to the award winning director, Michael Melski and asked him to make the film. And we got the funding and some of it was out of our own pockets. I felt it was just too important a story that had to be told to inspire others to conquer adversity in their own lives.
Aside from being a best-selling author, you are also in perfume and humanitarian circles. Tell me about those experiences.
I never set out to make perfume. I had completed my degree in journalism and had my own boutique PR and strategy firm supporting community groups and municipalities. But when I read about Abdullah in Afghanistan and the hardships he faced, I just had to do something. So I began purchasing his legal orange blossom essential oil and did all the learning required to compete in an industry where there was little room for new small players. I mean small. I mean so small on my visa card out of my garage small!
My work gained attention in our major media in Canada and I began to get calls from groups wanting me to travel to countries like Haiti and Rwanda to support distilleries that were set up there. I am always up for an adventure and to learn new things so not only do we learn from and meet farmers and HIV widows who survived the genocide of Rwanda but we get to thank them for their courage and let them know they are not alone. And then by osmosis you see the real roots of war and poverty and you begin to cross pollanate ideas to try and help regions that can’t seem to get out of their cycles of war and poverty. It really boils down to having women and diversity in elected power and having the courage to say no to corruption. Women leaders are really the only ones who have been really successful at reversing corruption and war and the world needs to look at models like Rwanda, the first female majority government in the world and demand that other countries that rank high on the corruption (Transparency Index) bring down their corruption levels by learning from these incredible women.
Was this a difficult film to make? And if so, why? What were some of the challenges?
Although I had studied journalism and my focus was on documentary making in university, it had been a while since I had filmed anything. So when we began, trying to build the right team was a real challenge. I was using my old rolodex and the world had changed. I needed to build a team that was motivated by the story rather than finally getting a paycheck. It really showed in the early days that we were missing a few key people who cared as deeply as we did. We found them all eventually, but in the beginning it was tough to build that team.
What inspires you?
People who are not afraid to speak up about injustice and are willing to take massive action to bring about justice inspire me.
How did you get involved in filmmaking? How does your being an author affect your choices when it comes to scripts and directing?
I studied journalism at the University of King’s College. I focused on documentary making. Before I could finish my internship, I was hired by a documentary production company and found myself traveling to Scotland to work on a doc on Robbie Burns. Holding the original Auld Lang Syne in my hands was a moment I will never forget. Seeing where the Bard scratched out words and changed one of the most famous poems/songs in history really blew my mind. Just to be so close to that level of writing. Being an author, I know how hard it is to create something people want to read that has longevity. I know it can take years to write a great work and I respect that very much in others. My focus now is less on choosing the scripts or stories, I leave that to our team right now. I have had to focus lately upon writing and directing smaller stories for our peace perfume company as it has taken off far from my garage and into the Sephora Canada this year with a launch in the USA online in April and in August in store then Europe. So I am using my passion for film, story telling and photography to tell our story better. We are up against giants. But it’s more thank OK to be David against Goliath.
What advice would you give a budding filmmaker?
Do all the learning. Go to school. Get a mentor. Just film something and begin. Build the right team. If you don’t feel you have the right team, make the changes to ensure your project doe not go off the rails. Protect your ideas fiercely.
What was the most important lesson you had to learn that has had a positive effect on your film? How did that lesson happen?
The film took a lot of our time, two years and a lot of money to pay the team, to pay for travel, cameras, editing etc. It in many ways was taxing on my social enterprise that supports our farmers. We are a lean team so I really felt I was being pulled away from my work in perfume. I was being innovative and creative in the film making process, but wasn’t doing as much within The 7 Virtues. I was actually worried at certain points with the shift in retail that our social enterprise was perhaps ahead of its time and was trying to reinvent it to ensure its survival. And then Sephora watched the trailer to our doc film, Perfume War and everything changed for the better. They accepted me into their Accelerate program that recognizes that less than 4% of the CEOs of beauty companies are women and they chose 10 of us from around the world who were social entrepreneurs and basically rebuilt our companies. So I did this program while the film was touring the film festivals across Canada and the USA. Needless to say the past few years have been fast moving on many different levels.
The lesson I learned is that film is the most powerful way to share an activist message. My message that we can’t as citizens expect our military and government to do all of the heavy lifting, that we as citizens have to come up with innovative ways to provide dignity, security and income to others to end the cycle of war and poverty was heard by the most important company in the beauty industry today. And now we can help more farmers. All because of our film.
What makes a film great for you? Are there certain qualities that make a film better for you?
I am moved by the quirkiness of camera angles. I love to see a story unfold from different vantages. I am also moved by the depth of a character and how that character moves the audience to do more with their gifts on this earth. I love films that wake us up.
What are some of the highlights of your career?
My career has been a zig zag, not a direct path throughout my education. But the personal highlights including returning to documentary making, my first passion ignited back in university and to see Perfume War win audience choice repeatedly coast to coast from Nova Scotia Canada to Sonoma California and places in between. Believing in social enterprise before the world really knew what it was and staying the course and not giving up to now seeing our vision for The 7 Virtues launching in the natural space in Sephora USA and for it to be leading the others with clean, organic, fair trade and chemical free aromatherapy scents is something I could only have imagined back in my garage launching on my visa card.
Being voted the Top Game Changer in the history of CBC’s Dragons’ Den show by millions of viewers for our social enterprise was definitely a highlight.
Being made the first female Honorary Colonel for the Royal Canadian Air Force base, 14 Wing Greenwood because of my message that we will not make our military do the heavy lifting alone in building peace, we are here. That was a big moment. To carry on my best friend’s mission of peace with him is very important to me.
There is still much to do, but we are making change. Now to end corruption. That is my next focus.
Visit Artemis Women In Action Film Festival for Screening Information. The film festival runs through April 26-29, 2018! Get your tickets for “Perfume War”
