The Fair Trade Movie Blog

Wow. It’s exciting to finally see The Fair Trade movie getting stocked on shelves, at least in the virtual sense. We’ve seen it at Tower, Barnes and Noble, DVD Empire, even Circuit City and Best Buy! If you haven’t purchased a copy of the movie yet, now is the time. And, if you liked the movie, make sure to go back and add a review to one (or more) of these sites — that’s how others will know that you loved it!

Ship date looks to be November 18, 2008 for these new retail channels. A shout-out and thanks to FilmBaby and Ryko Distribution for making this happen!

The Fair Trade movie screened (every hour on the hour!) at the Fair Trade L.A. Festival 2008 this past weekend. Tamara was there representing The Fair Trade as well as Anti-Body, and she said the response was great:

“No one stayed for the whole running time, but the festival was not conducive to watching movies for an hour. I could tell people were intently interested”

Thanks to Fair Trade L.A. for hosting us, and thanks to everyone who stopped by. And remember, if you want to buy the movie, go to FilmBaby or Fuller Bookstore!

The Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival is happening this weekend, and director Lauralee Farrer is in Idaho to speak at the screening of The Fair Trade movie.

Articles about the event can be found here and here. Thanks to all of those in attendance!

We’ll post a wrap-up as soon as the event is finished.

Lauralee Farrer, director and producer of The Fair Trade movie, is doing some radio interviews this week in support of the Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival (The Fair Trade is an official selection).

On Wednesday morning, September 17, she sits down with Lenny Joseph of KECH (103.5) in Sun Valley. Afterwards, she will head over to KYZK (107.5) for an interview with deejay Bob.

Anti-Body (the company that Tamara Johnston started with her twin sister Shelby and Shelby’s husband Steve  in The Fair Trade movie) has a new video up, and it’s about the cool people that are working together to make fair trade skin care products.

On YouTube.

Or here:

Check this out. A really cool event called Souled Out ‘08 is showing The Fair Trade on Saturday, October 4th, at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center. Check out their website for event details. It is showing at 3:30 and 5:30 in the afternoon. Come and check it out! Says director Martin J. Clarke, “We’re really excited about what this will add to our programme.” Thanks! We’re excited, too.

While I listen to the new Kelley McRae album on my iPod, here’s a more detailed description of our editor Greg King’s new film Rotating Mirror:

Rotating Mirror is a cycle of short films made from a process where impromptu Super 8 footage was shot every day for one year. The year took place between birthdays, so the project is a personal journey and reflection on life through multiple settings and situations.  It is a contemplative, poetic body of work that, although born out of a very subjective relationship between the director and his surroundings, compels the viewer to make their own associations and readings, and question the experience of time, urban living, contrasts of environment, and the mysteries of life through the particular language of film and montage. As such, it places the mundane within the context of the infinite, so that one may experience a unique angle of beauty within both. Seeing the personal in the infinite, and vice versa, as it were, and being open to the sensations and ’story’ that results.  The film is comprised of 14 chapters and represents a cinematic ‘year’, separated by x-ray footage of the Sun as a visual drone and indication of seasons. Members of the band Rachel’s composed the music and sound pieces that accompany the chapters. The relationship of sound to image is critical in this work, and influenced many editing and structural decisions.

Available on DVD.  NTSC, 49 minutes, 4:3 Standard Definition

I blogged about a Boston screening here, and apparently, it went very well. Thanks to all who came out in the thunderstorm to see the movie! Here’s a recap from one viewer:

Hi!!!  Saw it, loved it, talked about it, still talking about it, bought it…!

The Screening on Friday at Hope Fellowship was great!  There were 27 people there which was great considering we were experiencing lightning and thunder storms which also made for a cool affect while watching the film.  Our congregation’s BFJN fair trade representative coordinated a lot of nice fair trade snacks & beverages too including (coffee, tea, chocolate, brownies, & bananas…)

There was also a rep from http://www.bostonfaithjustice.org/ who set up a table, handed out fair trade pamphlets, and spoke at the end of the film as well.

All in all it was a successful night!  Everyone seemed to really enjoy the movie (there were laughs & there were tears.)  I bought a copy today online that I’m planning to pass around to friends & co-workers in Boston and I’m going to buy another copy to send to ———’s family in CO to get the word out there too!  One city at a time…

Thanks again to Boston Faith and Justice Network and The Crossing for sponsoring this screening, as well as our Travis Hardy for making the contacts.

Just wanted to give a shoutout to a few of the wonderful people on the movie’s soundtrack:

Rachel Diggs, the awesome voice on Wayfaring Stranger,  has a new album out (I just finished listening to it). Only available at iTunes. The songs are great, Rachel’s voice is stellar, and the production is top-notch. Go get it.

Buddy Zapata, cool slide-guitar and crazy-blues guru from the Joshua Tree and Togo scenes, as well as the menu music on the DVD, is performing in Altadena, CA this week. Check out his new website here and find out about the concert on his blog.

I think Kelley McRae (the song Johnny Cash in the movie) had a concert last week in Kentucky. I’ll post a review of it as soon as I can. Also, she has a new album out called Highrises in Brooklyn, and it sounds wonderful. It was produced by Brian Deck (Iron and Wine, Modest Mouse, Josh Ritter, Counting Crows), and has polish and sheen, but beautiful vocals and lyrics. Check it out.

And, although he’s not on the soundtrack, Greg King (film editor) was the one who gave The Fair Trade much of its look, going over and above the call of duty to take beautiful images and make them even better. He just released his own “film cycle” entitled Rotating Mirror, based on Super8 films he shot every day for a year. I have my copy already and it’s pretty darn cool. See images from the video installation here, or purchase the film right now here.

Kudos to the wonderful people who helped make The Fair Trade movie so powerful!

Powerful Films, a new partnership between FilmBaby, Ryko Distribution, and Warner Brothers, has invited The Fair Trade to be one of the inaugural films in this unique sales model.

This means that your local store can now carry The Fair Trade! Ryko is a world-class distribution channel that opens up a myriad of possibilities for us to get the story and message of The Fair Trade out to more people.

Just let your local retailer know that you want the movie, and they can purchase it through Ryko’s channels.

As before, you can purchase it directly from FilmBaby or FTS Bookstore. Thanks to all who have supported us with their purchase! Sales of this movie help pay for Burning Heart Productions to produce the next film…