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Just a reminder that we're on Sundance today at 3 p.m. (I'm posting this as the East Coast is watching).
For those who are new to Independent America, we shot the film in 2005. Since then, a lot has happened. We've already proposed a sequel, so hopefully more news on that soon!
Hanson, Heather, Tom.
Independent America will air once again on the Sundance Channel in the USA on Monday, March 3rd at 3 p.m..
And check out the work my students are doing at the University of Washington with the latest amateur video technology, at www.flipthemedia.com.
As we head into the third year of life for our film, it's interesting to see some of the top presidential candidates try and put the "Red State, Blue State" polarization that has plagued America for so long. Of course during our trip back in 2005, we knew that Americans were far too sophisticated to be so easily categorized, so we declared the country to be one deep shade of purple.
Our film is also beginning to reach the younger generations: Tom and I had a successful screening in Toronto at Branksome Hall in December. These teenagers posed some of the most intelligent questions we've heard during our time promoting the film. There's even the possibility of building a high school curriculum around "Independent America" at some point.
Lastly...anyone catch this article declaring Starbucks good for independent cafes? From my point of view, they certainly are, because I will happily walk an extra mile to go to an independent rather than enter one of four Charbucks seemingly readily available on every urban street corner. Of course, with the return of Howard Schultz and a sense that the company has lost its way with its rampant reproduction, the greatest threat to Starbucks just might be itself.
This photo was taken by our friend Mary Redmayne, who recently returned
from a photographic expedition in Mexico. I'll let her explain it
in her own words:
The translation is something like -- "I love the corner store.
Support
your local business. If we don't, we'll have MEGA problems." I
wanted to get a copy of the bumper sticker for you, but they didn't
know where it came from.
This was in a bakery that had been on that spot since 1935. The son of the founder took it over in 1974, and he and his wife work there every day. She likes shopping for bargains at Costco and Walmart, which are in the next state (Queretaro), but she said when she bought produce there once it all went bad in one day.
Read a good and thorough interview that I did this weekend with an Australian online entertainment magazine Parx-e Webzine, here.
We received this great e-mail this week:
My husband and I watched your film and words cannot describe how moved we felt by your accurate portrayal of the "big box" mentality in the United States... Good old fashion service is now a thing of the past. Lost is knowing your customers and their wants. In fact, we have been so affected by this movie that we are planning a road trip from Arizona, where we live now, to Michigan and then ending in Florida...just as in your movie, we will drive the back roads and stop only at mom and pop establishments capturing the "lost " America and the "renewal" of it.
We're always happy to hear when others take to the road and adopt our own IA rules -- it's a great way to see the USA.
David Wolf from Smallbiz America features us on his site (David interviewed us two years ago about the film (!)) with a podcast interview he conducted with me.
You can catch it here.
After all those Sundance broadcasts, as well as overseas airtime, we finally come "home" to a Canadian audience, 9 p.m. tonight on SuperChannel 3. Bonus: unlike the other showings we have, they're airing the full, 81-minute version of "Independent America" (which is what we sell on DVD).
Got this great e-mail from Hawaii today -- of note is a successful campaign to fight a big box store (which including using the DVD of our film):
We very much enjoyed “Independent America,” as did many residents on Kaua`i for whom our client purchased your DVDs.
As an advocate for small, independent businesses, we wanted to make you aware of a valuable resource. Late in 2006, Kaua`i’s small, independent businesses were threatened by the emergence of big box retailers on Kaua`i, namely Costco, and faced the possibility of increased impacts from Wal-Mart, which had plans to double its store size to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Lihu`e.
Well it looks like the Sundance Channel will broadcast our film four times in the United States this November:
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