Renée Scheltema

Renée Scheltema is a Dutch documentary filmmaker, living in Cape Town, South Africa. She has been making documentaries for 35 years.

After her Bachelors at Law, and Doctorandus degree in Criminology, she received her Masters at the School of Journalism at the University of California in Berkeley. Her main subjects were TV journalism and photojournalism.

In August 2015, after 4 years of working as a one-woman-film-crew, Scheltema completed the 120-minute feature version of the documentary Normal Is Over The Movie. http://normalisoverthemovie.com

In 2019 the new updated version of Normal Is Over 1.1 was completed, as the message of this award-winning film, is becoming more relevant by the day. Funding has been provided by The New Normal Foundation (www.TheNewNormalFoundation.org). Formerly named the Making of The Future Foundation.

Normal Is Over has its focus on humanity's wisest responses to climate change, species extinction, resource depletion, income inequality, and the link between these issues. A look at the financial and economical paradigm underlying our planetary problems, while offering various solutions to reverse the path of global decline.

Normal is Over received the Grand Educational Award, Cine Eco Film Festival, Best in Show Award, Cinema Verde Film Festival, and the Honorable Mention Award, Tasmanian Eco Film Festival. It was selected to screen at 13 film festivals, like the Wild & Scenic Film Festival USA; Princeton International Film Festival; The Santa Cruz Film Festival; Environmental Film Festival Spain; Greenmotions Film Fest, Germany. South African Eco Film Festival; Sonoma International Film Festival, USA.

Testimonials: ”An unusual, visually rich portrait of some of the world’s brightest and most innovative ideas.”- Daily Maverick

"Highly Recommended! “A beautifull job, with compelling voices..BRAVO!”.- Joanna Macy, Author, Buddhist scholar, Environmental activist.

“The only thing harder than making the changes explored in this film is the future we will face if we don’t make them." -Betsy Rosenberg, Author Huffington Post, Veteran CBS radio anchor

“A catalyst for changing the world, and a must for every decision maker in this world”. -Prof Michael Braungart. Co-founder Cradle-2-Cradle

Featuring:

• Lester Brown, Prof. Agricultural Economist
• Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics
• Michael Mann, Distinguished Prof. Meteorology
• Naomi Oreskes, Prof. History of Science
• Dr. Vandana Shiva, Environmental activist
• Charles Eisenstein, Author
• Paul Gilding, Author, Sustainability Consultant
• Al Gore, Former Vice President USA
• Bernard Lietaer, Prof. International Finance
• Ta’Kayia Blaney, First Nations activist

For many years, Scheltema worked for Dutch television as a documentary film director, producer, camera person and editor: NOS International Affairs Programme. NOS, NCRV, AVRO, Human TV, TROS, Veronica, IKON, VPRO, and the BOS, Buddhist Broadcasting Station. Many documentaries were co-productions with TV and Non-governmental organizations SNV, UNDP, UNESCO, Amnesty International. Renée has always been focusing on social issues, sustainable development, art and the protection of the environment.

Her art series "Canvas Extreme" consists of seven 30-minute portraits of cutting-edge artists in South Africa, and was sold to TV stations in France, Spain, Mexico, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

Other documentaries include Happy in Zimbabwe?, Portrait of a Zen couple, and Een Gezelig Gesprek, Portrait of Nicolaas Pierson.

Scheltema's 2009 feature documentary Something Unknown Is Doing We Don't Know What[1] investigates the science behind psychic experiences, featuring top scientists in the US, such as Prof. Charles Tart, Dr. Dean Radin, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, and Hal Puthoff.[2] This award-winning film has been selected at many film festivals, and has been distributed worldwide. Renée also wrote a book called Something Unknown which is available on Amazon. The book has been translated in Dutch, called "Iets Bekends Doet Iets Onverwachts".