ELMHURST – Elmhurst residents Marla and Jeff Sarris did not expect to end up the executive producers of a documentary when they first began to pursue a minimalist lifestyle.

The couple, however, played a key role in creating "Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things," which was released May 24 in select theaters across the country. As brand and business development specialists, Marla and Jeff, both 33, helped to define the visual identity of the film among other contributions associated with the role of executive producer.

The documentary explores a lifestyle in which people question the value that things add to their lives and ultimately clear the clutter, both practical (such as a house payment) and emotional (such as an overly stressful job), from life’s path. Minimalism focuses on important aspects of life such as health, relationships, growth and contribution. The Sarris’ involvement in the documentary began as a process of re-evaluation.

The couple have been together since they met as students at Fenton Community High School in Bensenville. Both attended Elmhurst College, where Marla studied math and Jeff computer science.

After graduating, Jeff took a local government job doing IT work, while Marla became a math teacher at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire. They married in 2008.

“Things weren’t exactly as you’d expect,” Jeff said. “You know, you go to high school, then to college, then get married, but there was still this discontent.”

Around 2009, Jeff lost his job, but he took what could have been a moment of frustration and turned it into an opportunity. Within two weeks, he found a way to increase work he had been doing on the side into a full-time business; but more important, he was enjoying himself.

“Working a day job always had the mentality that you need a million dollar idea, that once you make a lot of money you can live a meaningful life,” Jeff said.

Jeff was now working at home on his terms, but Marla was still struggling at her day job. Even though she liked her career, she was overworked and stressed.

“She would come home at least one day a week just in tears, emotionally drained,” Jeff said.

“And it wasn’t like anything in particular, it was everything,” Marla said.

After Marla quit, the couple started to look into making further changes that would allow them to get even more out of their lives.

The minimalist lifestyle is not the same from person to person since it's a result of an individual evaluation of benefits versus disadvantages of things in life. In Marla and Jeff's case, the changes involved altering their work load and schedules, carefully choosing passion projects and even reconsidering their diet. They are the founders and authors of the blog Paleo Porn.

Turned on to the lifestyle, the couple attended a local minimalist event in 2010 where they met Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, who had started The Minimalists blog two weeks before, and who would become the producers and subjects of the documentary.

“We hit it off right away,” Jeff said. “You could see that there was something special about what they were doing.”

With the blog, Millburn and Nicodermus try to cultivate a platform for people to come together and learn about living a minimalist lifestyle. Marla and Jeff soon started helping out as friends, but as the project grew, they were along for the ride.

The Minimalist became a nationwide tour, attracting people with an interest in the lifestyle. Year after year, more cities were added to the tour and minimalism grew into a movement. In 2014, they began producing a 100-city-tour into a documentary.

"Our main contribution was the visual brand side of things, so whether it was the simple motion graphics that were in the initial part of the film, the posters, the site, everything that goes into building a brand," Jeff said.

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See the film

The film debuted May 24 in select theatres across the United States and Canada as a special limited release. This means that the film will only show if enough tickets are sold. People can find a showing and reserve tickets by going to the documentary's website. If the documentary is not showing in a particular area, it can be requested.