The Fair Trade Movie Blog

Sorry it’s been so long since we updated last. Can you believe it? — another film festival:

The IIFF has chosen the following films for showing in this year’s festival. We apologize for our tardiness in finalizing the selections, but we’ve had some problems to overcome…and we have. These films are selected because of their excellence but also because of the way they complement other films in the festival.

…

Thanks so much to everyone for submitting your films. We’re honored that you’ve chosen the IIFF to exhibit your work. We believe that we’re going to have another great festival.

Richard Schinnow
IIFF Director

Congratulations to the whole Fair Trade movie crew! July 17-19, 2009.

Do you like garage sales? If you do, head over to Silverlake this Saturday for a benefit yard sale Anti-Body is holding in support of the new co-op that they are working to start in Liberia. Here’s the information:

Date: Saturday, May 16, 2009
Time: 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Location: 722 Parkman Avenue
City: Silverlake, CA
Info on the co-op: http://www.anti-body.com/fairtrade/liberia/
Info on the Coconut Campaign: http://www.anti-body.com/coconut

See you there!

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you will remember Racheal Mofya, a Zambian exchange student who was injured badly in the September 2008 Chatsworth Metrolink train crash. She was also an intern with Anti-Body. Tamara and Shelby spoke of their deep concern for Racheal, with all of the injuries that she had from the crash. Miraculously, she survived, and the L.A. Times has a story on her progress today.

Everyone at The Fair Trade movie continues to wish her a complete recovery.

We heard from the organizers of the Lowell Film Festival, which happened last weekend:

We had a fabulous turnout for your film, and for the entire festival in general. It was a rousing success! We had so much fun giving out your samples of lip balm — everyone was so surprised and delighted to receive them. What a nice touch it was to the event.

I made a personal introduction to the film, and got quite moved doing so. I have been so inspired by your story, Tamara, and was so grateful that you and Lauralee chose to share it with the world.

We also found coverage of the festival (including mention of The Fair Trade movie) in the Nashua Telegraph.

Thanks for all the support!

You can now get The Fair Trade movie just about anywhere. We just found out that Blockbuster Video is now carrying it online, so you can rent it if you have a membership (good rating so far too! — please rate us if you are a member of Blockbuster).

And remember, we have a bunch of links to purchase locations on the website, as well as Filmbaby offering both physical DVDs and movie downloads.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Anti-Body products are now being carried in most Whole Foods Market stores, especially here in the West and Southwest. Now we found out that management at the markets are using The Fair Trade movie to introduce employees to the human side of fair trade, as well as provide a backstory for Anti-Body, a locally-produced product that Whole Foods is marketing. This is a wonderful use of the movie: to make the connection between how we live and work, and how people on the other side of the planet are affected.

Congratulations!

The Fair Trade movie will be featured Down Under, during the New South Wales Fair Trade Fortnight [one of many Fortnight websites here, church venue homepage here].

We feel honored and fortunate to be a part of these larger events that get out the word about fair trade, communities, and the people around the world like Tamara and her friends in Togo who are aided by fair trade practices worldwide.

From the producers of the White Sands International Film Festival:

Congratulations! We’ve selected your film, The Fair Trade, for inclusion in the White Sands International Film Festival. As festival producers, we admire the talent, skill, and effort that you and your associates devoted to the work, and we’ve scheduled it to be screened several times at Las Cruces, New Mexico’s new Allen theatre complex.

The festival happens April 23-25, and The Fair Trade movie is screening at 1:00 p.m. on Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th.

Congratulations!

The Fair Trade screens this weekend at Lowell Film Festival. See where we are on the Festival Schedule, or see the complete list of films.

See you there!

Exciting news for The Fair Trade movie!

FIRST: Congratulations to Anti-Body, the company profiled in the movie. They are now selling through Whole Foods Market, both here in the Southern California area as well as Whole Foods’ Southern and Mid-West regions. See the announcement on their blog and go buy some of this wonderful product while supporting producers in Africa!

SECOND: Wow! You people asked over and over where you could get the wonderful song “Wayfaring Stranger” that Rachel Diggs sang in the movie. So, we relented. Thanks to the generosity of the artists (thanks Rachel and Buddy Zapata!) we are offering the recording of “Wayfaring Stranger” from the movie as a free download, at http://www.thefairtrademovie.com/media-free-mp3.html — so now you can download it to your iPod.

THIRD (and final): The Fair Trade continues to make its presence known worldwide. The movie is now available for rental from Netflix. If you are a member of Netflix, please rate The Fair Trade — it helps with attracting new rentals and sales. Next, we will be in Massachusetts April 3-5 for the 2009 Lowell Film Festival, where The Fair Trade is a featured film [ http://www.lowellfilms.org/ ]. And, on May 16, the movie will be featured as part of Fair Trade Fortnight 2009 in New South Wales Australia [ http://www.fairtrade.com.au/ftf09 ].

Thank you all for your continued support. More than making a movie, the filmmakers wanted to invite us all into a discussion about what constitutes a “meaningful life” and how does fair trade figure into that equation. We love the conversations that we have had with many of you after the screenings, and look forward to more lives changed as people watch Tamara’s journey in The Fair Trade.

Peace.