New show discovers man-made jungle utopia – News.com.au – NEWS.com.au

Director Ondi Timoner was at a conference when she met the man who would take her on a journey into the Panamanian jungle.

Entrepreneur Jimmy Stice is the man behind the creation of a sustainable town called Kalu Yala, built in the heart of the jungle by the idealistic students he attracts there.

"I'd never heard anyone say they were building a town. He asked me if I'd come down and help him to tell this story and as soon as I walked into the place I was sold and thought 'this must be documented'," Timoner said.

"I looked at this place and the people in it and I realised this was an opportunity to look at young people engaging actively in trying to come up with new ways to live sustainably, at a time where all of us must."

The director knew she could make something suspenseful based on the dramas involved in creating this place, but she also wanted to make a documentary series showing a different side to the young people living there.

"At the same time that it's about the environment, it's really also about millennials, and it's a look at millennials from a very intimate standpoint because when you wake up in the jungle you can't go put make-up on or prepare yourself for the day to go meet people, you are in a real community in the way that we don't live any more," she said.

She moved there with her crew, building a media centre operating off solar power and created the docu-series Jungletown, set to air on SBS Viceland.

It wasn't easy but in her time spent living there, mostly off the grid, Timoner could see its appeal.

"It's an amazing place, it'd change your life.," she said.

"For these kids - many of whom you'll see rebel, some of whom you'll see leave - it's the most profound experience they've ever had in their lives. It can be really challenging to be there and it puts you in a very raw state where you get to see the most authentic version of everyone around you."

*Jungletown airs on SBS VICELAND from July 18

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New show discovers man-made jungle utopia - News.com.au - NEWS.com.au