Spokane Earth Day Screening: sold out show, 3rd added by popular demand.

Our recent Earth Day series of screenings began in Bellingham at Western Washington University with a solid show of force by the students of Fairhaven and WWU turning out to support our film....OnePine's son, Bodie conceived organized and promoted the film as a part of Western's Earth Day

celebration...Great bunch of folks who were 2/3rds twenty-somethings and the rest baby boomers who remember it well...Music provided by Harvey Swanson and Deb Vester.

The very same night as the WWU showing, our film was broadcast on local PBS station, KCTS9 and drew the highest ratings yet for the entire series...

Then came Earth day in Spokane, Washington...the real capitol and service city to the communities of Back to the landers who are part of our film...They don't drive to Seattle to get supplies they can't get in Wennatchee, they drive to Spokane. Having an opportunity to bring our story of Eastern Washington's counterculture to the heart of Eastern WA. presented a rare opportunity. Luckily the gods of film screenings were smiling as we were joined by two of our main characters, Skeeter and Maeyowa for the post screening Q & A.

Humble and soft-spoken...a little humor thrown in, Skeeter and Maeyowa charmed our audiences with their well-informed answers about living and surviving without health insurance, the perceived contradiction of mega Corporations co-opting and offering organic food, about the spark that led them to choose the road less traveled....and much more...great questions that both our special guests had articulate and heartfelt answers for...the Spokane

audiences were spellbound. They loved the film but they loved our remarkable characters too.

Each of us really felt the genuine love and support expressed by Spokane's audiences. We had a magical time in Spokane! I can't wait to come back again. Thanks so much to the Magic Lantern Theater, the Inlander and Spokane Public Radio for helping us spread the word about our film! It just keeps on rollin'!

photos below: Our Earth Day road trip from the Methow Valley to Spokane took about 4 hours...we broke it up by stopping at the often missed viewpoint just above the Grand Coulee Dam...photos of Judy Kaplan (co-producer) with Maeyowa sharing lunch at this amazing picnic spot.

Icelandic TV requests Back to the Garden

Icelandic National Television has acquired the rights to broadcast "Back to the Garden, flower power comes full circle"! From the land of Free Willy, Bjork and Sigur Ros...there will be a national broadcast of our film this Spring...we'll announce the date soon.

A little background: RUV-the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service-is an independent (that's why they like us) public service broadcaster, owned by the state of Iceland. Begun in 1930, RUV's income can only be allocated for broadcasting purposes. They operate one TV and two radio stations covering the whole of Iceland. Their main charter: "...honor basic democratic rules, human rights and the freedom of speech and opinion". Yeah baby!

San Francisco Green Film Festival 2011. Brand spankin' new...and we'll be there. With fleurs in our hair!

Tell your Bay Area friends to come join us at the Brand Spankin' New,

SF Green Film Festival...March 3-6th at the Landmark Cinemas at Embarcadero Center (in the heart of Frisco).

I love San Francisco! I was born there... and this is such a heartfelt thrill and an honor to come show our film in THE place which has such historic connection to our film...Flower Power was born here.

Friends...clik and "like" on our own SFGreen FF Webpage...the more BUZZ we create, the more folks will come see our film and spread the message. This is such a wonderful opportunity for our film...thanks everyone for helping 'share the love'... kevin

REEL NW to broadcast Back to the Garden January 27th, 10pm on KCTS CH.9 (PBS).

The exciting news for January: REEL NW, a brand new television series from Seattle's PBS affilitate, KCTS channel 9, is set to air "Back to the Garden" on January 27th (thursday) at 10pm. This will be our film's first time on Television...a world television premiere! We are very proud to be a part of KCTS' new series featuring 'the very best of independent film from the Northwest.' We'll keep you posted as the date gets nearer...

Ojai film festival offers a taste of Hollywood mixed with beads and incense.

If you drive about an hour northwest of Los Angeles, tucked away into the coastal hills, you 'll find Ojai. A native American word meaning 'Moon's Nest'. Ojai has about 8,000 residents, a mix of L.A. retirees, Hollywood veterans, farmers and many counter cultural folks who love its spiritual,small-town vibe..sits at the base of some impressive mounts called the topa topas...At sunset the hills glow warmly in what the natives refer to as 'the pink moment".

We enjoyed some warm moments ourselves as we showed our film at the 11th Ojai film festival Nov. 4-7th. Met lots of Southern Californians at Ojai who loved our film and thanked us for its sweetness, honesty and uplifting message. Great weather greeted our Southern Cal debut along with good sized audiences too...We loved both the Art Center and Ojai Playhouse venues.

We attended some terrific workshops with legendary cinematographer Michael Chapman (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Detail), listened to the wisdom of Independent Producer Larry Turman (the Graduate), rubbed shoulders with other filmmakers from L.A., latvia and AFI and saw films you just can't see anywhere else...Special thanks to Steve and Liz Grumette for sharing their home with us and talking us up with locals...who couldn't have been warmer...thanks Ojai!

Duke City Docfest wraps...nominates BTTG for award.

The first annual Duke City Docfest took place October 10-15th...Back to the Garden had two screenings. Not a hollywood A-list scene to be sure but the organizers hope to make it a big draw in the years to come...I went because our film was shown in the KIMO theater.

The KIMO is the kind of place you want to be married in and buried in...It's a landmark movie palace that the city wisely treasures and has recently renovated to show off its T and A... Treasures and architecture! It's worth a lot more text but just take my word for it, it's like no other movie theater you've ever been to...an amazing movie palace that's one of a kind.

We were nominated for Best Cinematography. Cool!

My Albuquerque hostess with the mostess, Cousin Tama! Who was also 'born in the you es seh'. You Rock Girl! And in no small part thanks to her parrot 'Montel Herman' who only bit me once and likes me just fine now...

A shop on Central ave..I love the way the chain drape turns this scene into a kind of modern pointilist painting...I had huge fun shooting on old Route 66.

Downtown Albuquerque...Central Avenue, the heart of the City...the old Route 66 highway.
Yep, Duke City's turnout was modest...but we had a great Q & A...heck they agreed to pose for a group photo just to commemorate the occasion of Albuquerque's first year Documentary fest!
The facade of the venerable KIMO theater...a mix of art deco architecture combined with an incredible decor of southwest indian art...a true movie palace I'm honored to have shown our film at...thanks so much Jesse and the generous folks at the Duke City Docfest.

Tacoma Film Festival awards its top prize: "BEST DOCUMENTARY" to the 'Garden'

Director, Kevin Tomlinson receives "BEST DOCUMENTARY" award from Emily Alm, Tacoma Film Festival's director of programming and communication at the Grand Cinema in Tacoma on sunday 10-10-10....

Vancouver International turns it up a huge notch with two sold out shows and great press.

Vancouver was nearly a perfect audience for our film...home to many draft dodgers during Vietnam and haven to alternative lifestyles, B.C. is to Canada as California is to the States.

We screened on the first two days of the festival to capacity crowds who really 'got' our film. They laughed and sighed at every opportunity, hung on every word and gave thunderous applause following the film.

The organizers put us up in a beautiful downtown hotel, showered us with genuine Canadian affection, hosted Judy and I at gala event parties with Cirque mimes, delectable food and booze...We were pinching ourselves. Then we wake up to great newspaper reviews in the Vancouver Sun and the Georgia Straight, did interviews on Global TV and CBC radio's 'on the coast'. The consensus: Vancouver absolutely loved our film.

I can't say enough for the professionalism, genuine warmth and egalitarian atmosphere Vancouver's festival organizers exude...If this wasn't the best, it was damn near the best we've ever encountered along our festival journey...Met wonderful down to earth industry folk, hobnobbed and just generally had a very memorable experience in Vancity.

A huge hit of wind for our sails...

Ironweed Films makes "Garden" its September Film of the Month!

We're so stoked that Ironweed Films of Oxnard, CA. has chosen our film as their Film of the Month for September! This is a passionate, progressive, socially-responsible group of film lovers who know that many folks will never see Independent docs outside the film festival circuit. To bridge this gap, they offer a provocative film festival on DVD every month.

Ironweed Films

Mountain High: Rainier Indie Film Festival awards 'Garden'... "Best Documentary"

photos: top 3, courtesty of Phil Eichner...bottom pic: New 'Garden' fan, James Stevens with Jude on location.

"Back to the Garden" flower power comes full circle, received the "Best Documentary" award at last weekend's Rainier Independent Film Festival in Ashford, Washington. The festival, founded by film industry and mountain climbing vets, Win and Sarah Whittaker, also awarded best feature film to "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle" directed by former Seattle Janitor, David Russo...now being distributed by Robert De Niro's Tribecca films.

We loved Rainier's attention to details: the high quality digital projection, great sound, venue variety (including a school gym and a cozy yurt) ...and a terrific workshop by Warren Etheredge of the "Warren Report" to top it all off. A relaxed opportunity to really get to know other filmmakers, quaff some great microbrews and fill your lungs with the freshest mountain air in the world.

Our Rainier hosts, Win and Sarah are filmmaking veterans having produced first class documentaries themselves ie. (Sherpa-The Proving Grounds) and make every effort to help filmmakers feel the love...which we truly did. The Whittakers run a tight, organized weekend of screenings that feels like the Telluride Mountain festival. You might have hooted with the owls the night before but be ready to show up for the 9am screening the next day...and people DO!

Dutch Environmental Film Festival nominates "Garden" for Golden Strawberry Award!

Amsterdam's Studio K Cinemas hosted the Closing Night at the 2nd annual Dutch Environmental Film Festival.

"Back to the Garden" screened to a capacity audience on the final night of the four day festival which was held in both Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

The festival is unique in that it brought in a much younger audience than we've seen at most festivals...Young, 20 and 30-something men and women who are willing to work toward creating a sustainable world through getting out and rolling their sleeves up.

We had fantastic feedback from lots of inspired and motivated young Dutch Eco-activists who had nothing but compliments for the film's hopeful, inspirational message and thanked us for getting the story out to a global mass-audience.

A young African-English Doctor came up to us and explained how he was 'dragged kicking and screaming' to our film by the Festival's director. He said he was so taken with the film's characters' integrity and self-sufficiency...He found our subjects refreshingly genuine and honest in every way and was reminded of his fathers's rural upbringing and family values as a young immigrant coming to England from Nigeria. "I'm single and dating" he said. "I once had my date correct me on which hand to hold my knife with in a restuarant"...."Can you imagine", he said. " I'm way more interested in people like the young hippies in your film who seem to know what's really important and have their heads in the right place..."

So again it seems like our film isn't just about so-called 'Hippie values' but Human values...

The Golden Strawberry went to a great new film called "Dive" about L.A. Dumpster Divers

but we're so honored to be in the final running! and we met tons of wonderful new folks during the festival...thanks so much Ikenna and Mette from DEFF.

photo: Winners of the 'Best Dressed Hippie' contest: Bram and Wendy of Rotterdam. Our friends!

17th Barcelona Environmental Festival welcomes "Back to the Garden"

We're screening today (Thursday) at 8pm at the Cines Alexandra in the heart of Barcelona right on the historic Ramblas! For more on the Festival click Barcelona. more to come...

Soap Lake works its magic!

Dry Falls...20 mins north of Soap Lake on highway 17.... Not to be missed!

l-R: Judy, Skeeter (Michael Pilarski) and Kevin at Soap Lake's Masquers Theater on May 15th for Opening Night of the Soap Lake film Series, sponsored by Jacol filmworks.

Good crowd, great people...we met organic farmers, permaculture gurus, seasoned filmmakers and simply lots of like-minded folk who came out to support us. Soap lake has healing waters and we wasted no time checking it out...The lake has been a mecca to thousands in its heyday (early 1900's through WWII)...since then it's been largely overlooked.

But thanks to visionaries like Kathy Kiefer, local filmmaker and Soap Lake resident, it's on the comeback trail...We loved it and can't wait to go back and soak up more sunshine and it's amazing healing waters. Soap lake Washington.

It's also becoming a haven for artists and all sorts of alternative folk who love the natural beauty of the area and are creating real community.

May 15th... Masquers theater in Historic Soap Lake. 7:30pm Saturday night.

photo: Historian and filmmaker Kathy Keifer at Soap Lake 2005 (above)

photo: circa 1922 postcard from Soap lake: "It will cure you"....

We've had May 15th 2010 on the books for almost a year...Screening at a state of the art Theater (the Masquers theater) at Soap Lake, WA. a tiny dot on the map but....thanks to one kindred spirit, filmmaker kathy Kiefer, it's gaining a reputation for screening inspired independent films...Kathy has produced three docs herself and knows her audiences.

"I'm committed to producing documentaries that enlighten and inspire deeper thought." kathy kiefer

So we're really thrilled to be invited to Soap Lake and experience the healing waters, the local arts-scene and the historic spa-atmosphere which it's famous for...check out Kathy's site for more. www.soaplakewa.com

Where's soap lake? Just North of I-90 near Quincy. Not far from the Gorge Amphitheater.

Come on over for the weekend and meet the locals at our 'Garden Party'...

SEBASTAPOL documentary film festival NEXT!

California here we come...after the standing room only showing at Nevada City's Wild and Scenic Environmental film festival in January, "Back to the Garden" moves down the coast to SEBASTAPOL , just 90 mins. north of San Francicso...to screen at the third annual

Sebastapol Documentary film fest
showing on March 6th at 4:30pm at the
Sebastapol Cinemas.

Come out and join us...and as always, tell friends and family so they can come out and support us. We want to fill seats for the film to have the best audience impact.

Looking forward to getting California reactions to our film!