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...

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'...

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.