SOURLANDS: A film by Jared Flesher
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Bill McKibben and 350.org

11/18/2012

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Picture
Last night I gathered in a Philadelphia church with hundreds of others to listen to Bill McKibben lay out the case for citizen mobilization against the fossil fuel industry.

“I do not know if we win,” McKibben confided at the end of the evening. “But I know that we fight shoulder to shoulder.”

McKibben is not messing around — he may be the most influential American voice in the growing movement to halt global warming by any non-violent means necessary.

Last year, McKibben’s organization 350.org organized a mass protest in Washington D.C. against the Keystone XL pipeline, the largest civil disobedience action in this country in 30 years. And 350.org is marching again in D.C. today, because again Keystone XL is threatening to become the pipeline that toasts what’s left of the climate.

I left that church thinking McKibben was the right man for the job — particularly because he seemed like the kind of man who sincerely wished his job need not exist. His presentation was informative, serious, humorous, and resilient in all the right ways. He said things like, “It will be a slog, but the most important slog ever.”

His specifics were important too. Here are few:

1. McKibben believes we must stop the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline at all costs.

2. Taking a cue from the anti-apartheid movement, 350.org is calling for all American colleges to divest from the fossil fuel industry. On November 7, Unity College in Maine became the first to take the pledge. A how-to-guide on how to start a campus divestment movement is available for download here:

http://gofossilfree.org/toolkit/

On a professional level, the night was a satisfying one. I was able to meet for a few moments with McKibben, Gasland director Josh Fox, and several other members of 350.org, all delightful people working on issues that are important to me. And I handed out Sourlands DVDs to anyone willing to take one, which was everyone.

The words that stayed with me longest, however, were those of Rachel Carson, a woman who overcame incredible odds to write Silent Spring in 1962.  Her words, read aloud in the church by another:

"To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.”

Sourlands has now screened at Rider University, Temple University, Brookdale Community College, and across the street from Princeton University. What do people affiliated with these universities think about the divestment plan?
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SNOB Film Festival

11/11/2012

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Concord, New Hampshire has rolled out the red carpet this weekend for the SNOB Film Festival, and I’m thrilled to be up here representing Sourlands, which screens tonight at 6 p.m. – one of the final screenings of the festival before the band hits the music and a big party starts.

Concord sure knows how to make a filmmaker feel welcome. Walking down the streets of this beautiful New England city, it’s quite a good feeling to turn a corner and see a giant “Sourlands” poster adorning the display window of a local shop. This has happened around multiple corners.

Last night, I ran into documentary filmmaker Ryan Brod, whose documentary “Hardwater” screened on Friday night. (It’s about ice fishing in Maine.) Ryan and I struck up an instantaneous rapport. Business cards were traded, secrets about upcoming projects were revealed, and we talked about the hopes and fears that come with being an independent documentary filmmaker. That’s what I like about these festivals: you meet others who understand things that are hard to explain..

Right now I’m typing all this is a very cozy coffee shop on Main Street.  Thumbs up for Concord.
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The Twenty

10/19/2012

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The Sourlands ridge is 17 miles long. Here's another cool looking documentary on Kickstarter with a strong sense of place: 20 unspoiled miles of the Southern California coastline:
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Autumn Update

9/27/2012

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Three months ago, the documentary Sourlands premiered on a summer night in Central Jersey. Now the leaves in the Sourlands forest are changing color. Here's an autumn update on our latest adventures:

 -Since late June, Sourlands has screened 10 times across Jersey, including at universities, libraries, and a community garden. Our screening in Princeton, attended by several hundred friends and neighbors, was a particularly unforgettable night. Photos here: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/princetonpubliclibrary/sets/72157630537091576/with/7553451090/

- In October, we have 7 more screenings coming up. Please help spread the word. Information on upcoming screenings is available at www.sourlands.com/screenings

- Sourlands is an official selection of the Black Bear Film Festival, held in October. Milford, Pa., which hosts the festival, is regarded as the birthplace of the American forest conservation movement, and was home to Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Sourlands was also just chosen as an official selection of the Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival, held in Concord, New Hampshire in November. The theater in Concord is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever visited.

- I’ve been receiving reports from characters featured in Sourlands that they’re being recognized around town and asked questions about deer hunting, energy efficiency, native plants, or whatever issue it was they represented in the film. This is something I was secretly hoping for — that the film would be just the start of a much larger conversation. The best story I’ve heard is that Savraj, founder of Wattvision, was recognized as a celebrity in an airport in San Francisco.

 If you enjoyed Sourlands and would like to help keep the momentum rolling, here are a few simple things you can do:

 - Like us on Facebook. Our page is a www.facebook.com/sourlands

 - Write a review of Sourlands on Amazon.com  Go to the link then click “Create your own review.”

 - Encourage a local organization or school to host a Sourlands screenings. The first step is to ask the organization to fill out our screenings request form, here.

 - Give Sourlands as a gift. DVDs are available for $17.99 at http://www.sourlands.com

 I’ve been out in the woods again with my camera, working on my next documentary project. This one’s going to take a while, but I’ll keep you updated when there’s more to tell. In the meantime, I hope everyone finds a day to take a long autumn hike in your nearest forest…

-JF
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Week 9, 10, 11, 12

4/24/2012

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I’ve been delinquent in my effort to pledge once a week to a different documentary film project on Kickstarter, so I made up for lost time and supported the following four films today:

Hollow – About a county in West Virginia after the coal mining industry leaves
Only the Young – Looks fantastic, hard to explain.
Hudson River Project – About the Hudson River
Black Sun – About two astrophysicists who study eclipses.

Links:

http://kck.st/Is5YBD
http://kck.st/JrTvKu
http://kck.st/HtakKc
http://kck.st/J2q1qy

I’ve been away in editing land, where days and nights come and go at irregular intervals. The good news is that SOURLANDS is getting close to the film I want it to be. Today I’m concentrating on some audio editing…

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Week 8: The Encyclopedia Game

3/31/2012

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Today on Kickstarter I supported “The Encyclopedia Game,” a documentary film about people who vandalize Wikipedia. I use, love, and am intrigued by Wikipedia, the trailer looks great; and the project only has five days left to raise a big chuck of cash. Here's the trailer:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1725543613/the-encyclopedia-game-a-quirky-film-on-wikipedia-v?ref=live

WHY FIVE DOLLARS?
One of the interesting things that happened during a recent Kickstarter fundraising campaign for my own film, SOURLANDS, is that someone pledged $1. I remember opening up my email and thinking “Why did someone just give me a dollar?”

I Googled around and soon discovered that the $1 came from a man who is giving $1 every single day of 2012 to a different Kickstarter project and, just as importantly, helping promote each of these projects on his website.

This has inspired me to do the same. Once a week for at least the next year, I’m going to pledge at least $5 to a documentary film project on Kickstarter that looks interesting. I’ll also help promote each of these projects on the Sourlands blog (http://www.sourlands.com/blog.html) and the Sourlands Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Sourlands). I hope you'll steal this idea, just as I did!

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Hydrogen

3/30/2012

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SOURLANDS is getting closer to completion every day. For the past several weeks I have been focused almost entirely on editing, making revisions to the rough cut and polishing up parts that can still use some polish.

When you see SOURLANDS in a few months time, one of the characters you will meet is Mike Strizki, who lives in East Amwell in North America's first "solar-hydrogen house." Hydrogen is an expensive way to store renewable energy -- critics often say that it's so expensive that it remains a technology of the distant future -- but I read with interest today that Germany, which is making huge investments in solar and wind power, is now taking a fresh look at hydrogen as a way to store clean energy:

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/40001/page1/
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Week 7: Surviving Japan

3/20/2012

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Today on Kickstarter I supported the documentary film Surviving Japan:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/survivingjapan/surviving-japan-a-documentary

It's a short dc about the aftermath of the tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan last year.

WHY FIVE DOLLARS?
One of the most interesting things that happened during a recent Kickstarter fundraising campaign for my own film, SOURLANDS, is that someone pledged $1. I remember opening up my email and thinking “Why did someone just give me a dollar?”

I Googled around and soon discovered that the $1 came from a man who is giving $1 every single day of 2012 to a different Kickstarter project and, just as importantly, helping promote each of these projects on his website.

This has inspired me to do the same. Once a week for at least the next year, I’m going to pledge at least $5 to a documentary film project on Kickstarter that looks interesting. I’ll also help promote each of these projects on the Sourlands blog (http://www.sourlands.com/blog.html) and the Sourlands Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Sourlands). I hope you'll steal this idea, just as I did!
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Week 6: Folk to Folk

3/12/2012

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Today on Kickstarter I supported the film project, Folk to Folk:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/folktofolk/folk-to-folk?play=1&ref=users

It’s a short documentary by three young filmmakers about young folk musicians today. Somebody in the trailer says, “I think in times like these, people want something real.” The trailer for this documentary has that feel to it: authenticity.

WHY FIVE DOLLARS?
One of the most interesting things that happened during a recent Kickstarter fundraising campaign for my own film, SOURLANDS, is that someone pledged $1. I remember opening up my email and thinking “Why did someone just give me a dollar?”

I Googled around and soon discovered that the $1 came from a man who is giving $1 every single day of 2012 to a different Kickstarter project and, just as importantly, helping promote each of these projects on his website.

This has inspired me to do the same. Once a week for at least the next year, I’m going to pledge at least $5 to a documentary film project on Kickstarter that looks interesting. I’ll also help promote each of these projects on the Sourlands blog (http://www.sourlands.com/blog.html) and the Sourlands Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Sourlands). I hope you'll steal this idea, just as I did!

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Week 5: Return of the River

3/3/2012

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Today I pledged $5 to support the Kickstarter campaign of a new documentary film titled Return of the River, about the undamming (or is it undamning?) of the Elwha River in Washington State. According to the write-up, "In a world of grim news about the environment, the return of the Elwha River is a rare success story. It is a story with global ramifications, exploring the complex relationship between people and the land they call home."

Here's the link:

http://kck.st/yo0jyA

WHY FIVE DOLLARS?
One of the most interesting things that happened during a recent Kickstarter fundraising campaign for my own film, SOURLANDS, is that someone pledged $1. I remember opening up my email and thinking “Why did someone just give me a dollar?”

I Googled around and soon discovered that the $1 came from a man who is giving $1 every single day of 2012 to a different Kickstarter project and, just as importantly, helping promote each of these projects on his website.

This has inspired me to do the same. Once a week for at least the next year, I’m going to pledge at least $5 to a documentary film project on Kickstarter that looks interesting. I’ll also help promote each of these projects on the Sourlands blog (http://www.sourlands.com/blog.html) and the Sourlands Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Sourlands). I hope you'll steal this idea, just as I did!
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