Director: Cinematographer: Thomas Burstyn

Writer / Producer: Barbara Sumner Burstyn

Running Time: 85 minutes

Year of Production: 2009

Against isolated mountains, Peter and Colleen Karena raise their six children on the thin edge between freedom and disaster. Capturing their precipitous existence with equal parts glorious abandon and painful suspense, this complete immersion in another way of life reveals that the price of freedom is something well worth paying for.

“A collision of realities -- earthly nature vs. human nature -- lies at the very big heart of This Way of Life, catapulting this story beyond mere portraiture and into a realm of metaphysics, melancholia and cosmic doubt: At the ends of the Earth, in a virtual Eden, is it possible for a family to live without petty grudges, anger, violence and authoritarian rule?” (-John Anderson, Variety Magazine)

Thomas Burstyn explains, “In post-production the challenge was to create a coherent story from 80 hours shot over four years. While some may look on and see poverty, we learned to see the richness they embrace.”

Shortlisted among 15 documentaries for the Academy Awards (2011)

Berlin Film Festival (2010), Jury Prize – Generation Section

Heartland Film Festival and Seattle Film Festival (2010), USA

Raindance Film Festival and London International Film Festival (2010), UK

Hotdocs (2010) and Vancouver Int. Film Festival (2009), Canada

Director / Cinematographer Thomas Burstyn CSC, FRSA is a multi-award winning, Emmy-nominated filmmaker with 30 plus years as a cinematographer. Tom trained at the National Film Board of Canada, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and has dual New Zealand / Canadian citizenship. He is co-director of Cloud South Films.

Writer / Producer / Researcher Barbara Sumner Burstyn is a Qantas Award winning columnist and now award winning documentary producer for One Man, One Cow, One Planet and This Way of Life. She is widely published in New Zealand. Barbara is co-director of Cloud South Films.