Sarajevo, San Francisco and Salt Spring Island B.C. film festivals: lovely people!

The weekend of March 3-6 was our busiest in awhile...Three International film festivals, running simultaneously, showed our film to brand new audiences.

Judy and I were attending the first ever, San Francisco Green film fest at the swanky Landmark Embarcadero Cinemas while Deb Vester, one of our main characters from the film represented us at the wonderful Salt Spring Island Documentary festival up in the Canadian Gulf Islands. She had a wonderful time and says the audience was super engaged in the film...thanks to Diane Copeland and the fest organizers for the invitation and giving Deb the royal treatment.

The third screening was at the 17 International Environmental film festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzogovina. (see their wonderful green eyelash graphic) We're still waiting to hear how that went-we'll follow up later. We had over one hundred people at our Sarajevo screening according to the festival director!

San Franciso was wonderful...we met so lots of new people, saw other terrific films, networked the crowd with postcards and sold DVD's too. We had such a great venue, time slot (8:15pm on a Saturday night!) one of the largest turnouts of the festival and a special 'Centerpiece' Flower Power after party directly following the screening...Thanks so much to Rachel Caplan (festival Director) and her top notch staff including BTTG's own Shane Keller (he appears in the '88 healing gathering and says " the purpose that brings us all together is LOVE.") Shane came down from Humbolt County to volunteer at the festival and we had a terrific time getting reacquainted...he's a terrific human being.

We also met Dorio and Tree who came up from Watsonville to be at the screening and also participated in the Q & A following the film. They are both part of the original Okanogan community and joined us for the after party as well...thanks for coming to San Francisco you two!

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!

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...

New BTTG Interview/Podcast available

Following our wonderful experience up in Vancouver late this Summer at the Vancouver International Film Festival, we've received several requests to show the film in Canada.

The good folks up in British Columbia and as far east as Ontario are really in step with our films message that living the simple life can be a very fulfilling life. The empowerment one feels building your own home, having a sense of community and knowing that you're eating healthy, home-grown food...is being passed on to an new generation. A generation that honors the sixties activism and ideals but is looking to put their own mark on the future.

Recently I was contacted by a young man, originally from South Carolina,who now lives in B.C. He wanted to interview me about our film that he'd seen at VIFF. We're very happy to spread the word but it's especially fulfilling when someone who's fresh out of college is inspired by the example of our film's characters...Skeeter, OnePine, Maeyowa, Deb Vester, Jerry Bartels and Jeffrey Stonehill...and wants to know more.

He's put together a great blog of ideas and interviews with folks who talk about a wide variety of issues concerning the environment that he calls the ExtraEnvironmentalist.

Here's the podcast/interview conducted in late November 2010.

It's almost an hour long interview/podcast so feel free to download it onto your ipod or other digital device for an interesting hour of discussion. Comments always welcome.

thanks so much Justin and Seth.

More Amsterdam pics from the Dutch Environmental film festival...and a special side trip out to the "hippie community" of Ruigoord

The "hippie village" of Ruigoord 30 mins outside of Amsterdam... an entire village squatted in the 70's and still alive in the new millenium...We went there for a "Percussion Festival" and to give the community a copy of our film...Everyone told us..."you've got to take your film there!"

L-R: Thea with friend and daughter. Thea has been coming out to Ruigoord to juggle and meet friends for over 20 years...mostly on weekends and for special fests.

This group of Dutch Women loved being photographed. I got the impression coming to Ruigoord is like a counter culture Las Vegas in that you come there to get loose and have fun with friends but return to your normal routine when the Monday roles around...

You meet the nicest people in Holland....

Studio K: Closing night at the Dutch Environmental film fest in Amsterdam...good crowd.

Taking Questions from a much younger audience than most of our previous venues.

Screening which proceeded a big late night dance party...

Our crowd: dressed for the 'Green Carpet' closing night at Studio K, Amsterdam.

We're finally Here! Byron Bay Australia!

(photo: top- Byron Bay Festival Director J'aimee Skippon-Volke doubles as tour guide on day 1 bottom photo: The view looking South along the Australian east coast from the Byron Bay light house.)

We just arrived today, March 9th, 2010 after flying 14 hours from Los Angeles to Brisbane.

Took a two and a half hour shuttle van from the airport, where we met a couple of hippie kids were coming home from a snowboarding trip to Austria..."yeah, I lived in a tepee too" says Marty, now a cabinet maker doing contract work in the Byron Bay area...I'll tell my Mom about your film showing this weekend.

Our film posters are up, we got a personal tour of Byron Bay by BBIFF director, J'aimme Skippon-Volke, an evening walk in the tropical heat to work out the jet-lag stiffness and a great meal tonight at our deluxe accomodations...wow! As Judy likes to say, 'even I'm jealous of my own life!'

This festival is getting out the word and putting us in a great time slot (Closing day at 11:45am). They're displaying our film graphic prominently in the local newspaper ads, placed our poster right at the entry to their festival ticket office and it just feels great knowing that we're getting that kind of support here in Australia. It feels good...I think it's going to be a wonderful experience here. We're on the short list for the "Best Environmental film" award..

More to come! We screen on Saturday, March 13th.

"Garden" receives a FIVE STAR review in Portland's Willamette Weekly

photo: Phil Borges 2008

Portland's venerable Willamette Week Newspaper

rates "Back to the Garden" with Five Stars on eve of it's first theatrical run...anywhere.

The Clinton Street Theater, the oldest art house cinema in Portland is screening "Back to the Garden" for a special one-week run...

send your PTD friends over...If it does well, they're willing to extend the run. Cool!

click on the links above to read the entire review...

Bendfilm fest: huge buzz and capacity crowds deliver rave reviews for "Garden"

Bend film Festival happy snaps: (l-R) OnePine, Judy, Deborah Vester & Kevin

Lean and Mean "Garden" crew: Kevin (director/producer), Tim Cash (editor) & Judy Kaplan (producer)

Radio Interview at KPOV in Bend: Brad (interviewer), Tim & Kevin...Plugging "Back to the Garden, Flower Power comes full circle" for this half hour local radio interview show...

There was no shortage of local 'buzz' surrounding our film at Bend with a tremendous outpouring of emotion at the Saturday morning show. The Festival committee had scheduled "Garden" for a single showing but following the huge turnout immediately booked a second show during the 'best of fest' screenings on Sunday.

"Back to the Garden" narrowly missed receiving the Bendfilm Audience Award falling just a few votes short to place second overall. Yikes!!

We had the awesome company of our friends and main subjects of our film: OnePine and Deborah Vester (who drove 6 hours plus down from Chesaw and Bellevue, WA.) along with local Bend filmmaker/editor Tim Cash and his wife Yuvia and 2 sons at the screening.

Big hugs and Kisses to the Bendfilm staff who made us feel like 'VIP' Filmmakers all weekend!

A HUGE thanks to our Bendfilm hosts Steve and Judy McCoy who taxied us all over, fed us and made the whole weekend such a pleasure.

Local News coverage:

"Back to the Garden" ...one of the Bend Film Fest Picks.

http://www.tsweekly.com/culture/features/still-reeling-we-give-you-the-run-down-on-a-few-films-to-check-out-at-this-years-bendfilm-festival.html

SIFFtv interview on the making of "BTTG"

To see the original interview on SIFFtv and 

other interviews from the festival...go here.

"Back to the Garden..." chosen as opening night film at the Maui Film Festival!

        click here for Maui film festival program link.

Big Weekend screenings in the Okanogan.

*click on news articles to enlarge....

Thanks to everyone who came out last weekend in both Tonasket and Twisp

to support "Back to the Garden, flower power comes full circle".

We had big friendly audiences in both screenings with lots of laughter and some tears. You made us feel like family! We love you and look forward to coming back again soon...

Special thanks to Don at KTRT 97.5 fm in the beautiful Methow valley, Joyce Campbell and Sue Misao at the Methow Valley News, Aaron Studen at the Twisp River Pub for all their help in getting folks to come see what turned out to be a very special screening. It was packed!!!

Thanks also go to Emily Hanson at the Okanogan Gazette and Sheila Corson of the Omak Chronicle for writing fab stories that helped spark local interest in of our 2o year film project.

In Tonasket, thanks to River Jones, Peter James, Julie Greenwood, Alice and all the great folks at the Tonasket Community Cultural Center and the Tonasket Co-op, where it all began!