Dear friends,
After years of working on other people’s films, I’m taking a huge personal step—and I need your support more than ever to do it. I’m passionately at work editing my first feature-length documentary, “Back to the Garden“. This is not something I’ve embarked on lightly. The story has been literally more than 20 years in the making...and I’ve never felt so strongly about a project in my life.
It began in 1988 when I took a road trip that led me on a strange and wonderful journey.
By chance, I noticed a handmade poster advertising a Hippie Healing gathering in a remote valley in rural Washington State... I decided to go.
What I experienced there felt like time travel, finding myself among ‘magic buses’ and tepees in a meadow filled with flower children communing with nature. I shot hours of dancing, drumming, singing and celebration—and recorded extensive interviews with some of the most sincere, iconoclastic characters I have ever met.
At the time, I had no plan for the material. So I shelved it…and it sat in my basement…for 18 years! But I couldn’t let it go. Then finally it hit me. Where have all the ‘flowers’ gone?
Had their dreams of environmental sustainability survived, had anyone changed course and gone mainstream? How did their children feel about their own ‘Hippie Kid’ childhoods?
Nearly 20 years later I set out on another journey—to find out what had become of their youthful dreams of self-reliance.
What I found speaks so directly and profoundly to the most pressing problems facing America—and our world today. This personal time-lapse creates an emotionally moving story… not only because of those who rejected mainstream society—but also because of the enduring personal sacrifices and consequences of those choices…and because this is also our story as well… as the 60’s affected everyone.
Today, the world has whole-heartedly embraced these ‘radical’ yet simple ideas, ideas once considered “fringe’ or “out of touch” and now being adopted by a ‘green movement’ looking to protect the Earth for future generations.
With your faith and tax-deductible financial help I’m entering the film in the International Documentary Festival (IDFA) in Amsterdam where new documentaries are discovered by distributors and networks for general release. It’s the best way for indeed filmmakers like me to get a real shot at reaching a larger audience. To date our production team has raised $40,000. Our goal is $150,000. to be raised by October 30th, 2008.
I'd love to discuss your participation in making this project a success. I’m sure once you see a sample of this film, you’ll share my excitement about bringing Back to the Garden to a wider audience.
I’ll be in touch...and please, leave a message here if you'd like to know more...Thanks so much for considering helping me make this lifelong dream a reality—and bringing a great story to life.
Kevin Tomlinson
ktvc2001@aol.com
Heaven Scent Films
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