Sundance Blog

Fields of Fuel will be screening at the Beverly Hills Film Festival in Beverly Hills, CA on April 11th. While we don't have extra tickets to the screening, there may still be some tickets for sale for early arrivals.

Preceding the screening, we will hold a Biodiesel Car Parade from Conserv Fuel in Brentwood to the film festival. If you have a biodiesel car and are interested in participating in the parade, please contact the parade organizers:

Michael Wittman @ 818.599.9119 or michael@thirdplanetenergy.com
Michael McOmber @ 541.390.5888 or mcomber@hotmail.com

See you on April 11th!

Sustainably,
Josh Tickell

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Fields of Fuel, winner of the Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award: Documentary and the Sedona Film Festival's Most Compelling Documentary and the Arizona Republic Bill Muller Award for Excellence in Screenwriting, will be playing tonight at the Pacific Palisades Film Festival tonight. While we don't have extra tickets to tonight's screening, there may still be some tickets for sale online at FriendsOfFilm.com. Frank Caridi, the Veggie Van's head mechanic, says: Announcing a biodiesel parade / caravan from Conserve Fuel in Westwood to the Fields of Fuel screening in Pacific Pallisades at 4PM (Thursday, 3/6/08). One of the groups in attendance will be a team of Japanese biodiesel advocates driving what HAS to be one of the most amazing mobile, compact biodiesel processors ever. Their vehicle is a 2008 Toyota Landcruiser with a mobile processor in the back that slides out to operate. It's totally bitchin'! The Veggie Van will be in attendance, probably parked next to the Landcruiser: wow, talk about old and new! We've come a long way, baby.

More later!!!

It's all led up to tonight. All the hard work, seven screenings with Q&A's (including two for high school students), countless press interviews, the Veggie Van parades, and yes, even the parties, have all brought us to this moment. The Sundance jury announces their selections for the best of the festival tonight. FOF and 15 other documentaries compete for the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, as well as Directing, Cinematography and Editing awards.

All of Fields of Fuel's screenings here have sold out. And while the crowds have died down here in Park City as the festival wraps up, the enthusiasm of FOF crowds has not slackened. Last night's showing in Salt Lake City, as well as this morning's final screening here in Park City, ended with standing ovations and enthusiastic Q&A's between Josh and the audience. After yesterday morning's screening for Salt Lake City area high school students, a group of students spontaneously decided to form a committee to convince school officials to switch their school buses over to biodiesel. That's the kind of action FOF hopes to inspire with each and every screening.

The FOF Caravan leaves tomorrow to head back to Los Angeles, and folks are already packing up in preparation. Those of us who can't get into the awards ceremony tonight (each film only gets 4 tickets!) will be waiting for those all-important text messages. Unfortunately, the awards ceremony will not be broadcast live, but the Sundance Channel will be airing a "Best of the Fest: Sundance Film Festival 2008 Highlights" show, including the awards, tomorrow (Sunday, Jan. 27) at 9 p.m. If all the computers haven't been packed away, we'll try to post our fate here tonight. Wish us luck! -- FOF Team

VIP Party: Part 1

A star-studded cast of Fields of Fuel supporters showed up for our VIP premiere party. Click below to see Woody Harrelson, Morgan Spurlock, Armand Assante, James Gennaro, Kenneth Hern (NOVA Biosource Fuels), Esai Morales, Jean Paul DeJoria (Paul Mitchell) and others.

VIP Party: Part 2

Interviews with Woody Harrelson, John Paul DeJoria (Paul Mitchell), Kenneth Hern (NOVA Biosource Fuels), Jonathan Wolfson and Harrison Dillon (Solazyme), and Jeff Dowd, the character on which Jefferey "The Dude" Lebowski was based; all committed activists in the environmental movement.

Thursday afternoon's FOF screening here in Park City was another sold-out event with a long waiting list line. Geoffrey Gilmore, the director of the festival, introduced Josh and acknowledged him for his passion and commitment to the cause. It was a very heartfelt intro and exchange between them. The Q&A after the film was also heartfelt and lively, with many people expressing their desires to and asking about how they could make a difference in their own communities. Josh was approached by dozens of people after the Q&A who wanted to chat more and shake his hand. Josh is really greeting the spotlight and pressure gracefully.

Some 200 area students gathered for a special Fields of Fuel screening this morning in Salt Lake City as part of The Sundance Film Festival High School Screening Program. Following the film, Josh was on hand to take questions from the students, who came from the following high schools: Lone Peak, East Hollywood, Park City and East.

Immediately translating what they learned from the film into a plan of action, students asked what they can do to help launch biodiesel in their schools. One young woman asked if it was a good idea to take petitions to local gas stations asking them to carry biodiesel.

After the thirty-minute Q&A, we invited the students to go outside and see the Solazyme car that runs on biodiesel fuel made from algae. On way out, they continued to clamor for buttons, pins, and bumperstickers. And made more comments like "Dude, you mean I can use my diesel car? I already have and just put biodiesel in it? Sweet.”

Elsewhere, FOF continued to garner national media attention. Check out this video about Josh and the Veggie Van on AMC: http://www.amctv.com/videos/smso/?bcpid=353549892&bclid=1382936576&bctid...

Also, CNET's film review, "Documentary fuels greening of Sundance"
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9856498-7.htmlr

And MSN's recent coverage, just to name a few:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22757109/wid/18298287/


Get those buses on biodiesel!

Josh with tomorrow's leaders

As folks filed out of Fields of Fuels' world premiere, they shared with us what they thought.

LA indie, soul band, The Jane Does, rocked the FOF premiere party last night at the Red Stag Lodge in Park City, keeping crew members out til the wee hours. (The Jane Does' anti-war song "Who's Kidding Who" is featured in Fields of Fuel.) But it was back to work this morning for the team, starting with more press and a book signing at Sundance’s Giving Suite where copies of Josh's latest book, Biodiesel America, are on sale throughout the festival.

Josh and producer Greg Rietman were interviewed on the local NPR station’s “This Green Earth” show this afternoon along with Sundance co-sponsors Kenneth Hern, CEO of Nova Biosource Fuels, and top Solazyme executives Jonathan Wolfson and Harrison Dillon. Host Karen Dallett, who had seen yesterday’s premiere, praised the film’s call to action and congratulated Solazyme on their new partnership with Chevron -- announced this morning -- in which Chevron Technology Ventures will partner with Solazyme to help turn their algal biodiesel fuel into a large scale reality.

This evening, Woody Harrelson, who appears in FOF and is great supporter of biodiesel, came over for some delicious, vegan vittles care of Chef Jeff. FOF's second sold-out screening is tonight at 9:30.

NEW VIDEO OF NPR INTERVIEW:

The Jane Does lead singer, A. R. Tubbs

Woody with the team at headquarters.

Official FOF Hero, Jon Luskin, raced the final version of the film through a snow storm arriving just half an hour before the premiere. The good people at Sundance accepted the final cut ready to play at 11:30am.

Who knew just how sold out the FOF premiere would be? Fans came two and a half hours early hoping to get a wait list ticket. Even some ticketless crew members were exiled to the theater cafe.

We won’t give any details away but there was spontaneous applause at one particularly politically-charged scene in the film.

Credits rolled and the crowd gave a hooting and hollering standing ovation. We later heard it was the first film at Sundance this year to get a standing ovation.

Stay tuned for our soon-to-come video with reactions from the very first people to see Fields of Fuel!

Full House!!!


Josh on stage for the Q&A


Vote FOF

Our assistant editor/graphic designer extrodinaire, Neal Sickles, was scheduled to fly from Los Angeles into Salt Lake City at midnight last night with the final edit of Fields of Fuel for this morning's World Premeiere. Unfortunately, the techno gods were not with us and the tape was unplayable. So, our co-producer Darius Fisher jumped a flight with a fresh tape in L.A. early this morning, arrived to SLC at 8:56 a.m. We sent a car, and a back-up car to get him, and they are now apparently 10 minutes away. We don't know, however if the Sundance officials will allow us to use the new cut of the film, or if they will make use screen the version that we turned into them last week!

To top things off, we got half a foot of snow overnight, and the roads are slick! Josh, though calm on the exterior, had this to say this morning: "The tape's 10 miles from Park City, it's snowing like crazy, and I don't have enough tickets to my own #%*& movie."

Day 4: Star-Studded Bash

Submitted by Josh Tickell on Mon, 01/20/2008

Countdown, one hour to the premiere now. We had a star-studded VIP party last night for Fields of Fuel supporters -- more details and pics later today -- but the roster included Woody Harrelson, Morgan Spurlock (who is here with his new documentary "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?"), Armand Assante, Paul Mitchell CEO and cofounder John Paul DeJoria, Jimmy Jean-Louis (Heroes), and Jeff Dowd, the character on which Jefferey "The Dude" Lebowski was based; all committed activists in the environmental movement.

Paul Mitchell CEO and co-founder John Paul DeJoria, his wife Eloise, and Josh at the


Morgan Spurlock, Rebecca Harrell, and Josh


New York City Council Member James F. Gennaro, Josh, and Woody Harrelson. At the party, Woody thanked Josh and told reporters that Josh was the reason he got into all this stuff.

The buzz around Fields of Fuel continued at high volume Sunday, the day before the documentary's world premiere at the Prospector Square Theatre. The American Movie Channel (AMC) interviewed Josh this morning, getting a taste for Josh's passion for the biodiesel movement and taking a ride in the now-famous Veggie Van. They were joined in the van by FOF stars and Sundance Co-sponsors Kenneth Hern and Leon van Kraayenburg of Nova Biosource Fuels, and Jonathan Wolfson and Harrison Dillon from Solazyme, a California company that has figured out how to make a car run on biodiesel fuel made from algae. The afternoon saw a greasy, french-fry-smelling version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade -- a string of FOF's biodiesel vehicles, including the Veggie Van -- make it's way down Park City's Main Street. Street Team volunteers walked along the parade route, chatting with onlookers about the film and how biodiesel works. Overheard from Park City fans: “Look, it's the Veggie Van!” “Do you smell that?” “It's making me hungry.” Look for AMC's story later this week at: http://www.amctv.com/originals/shootout

With its small army of volunteers, the Fields of Fuel film crew descended on Main Street, passing out buttons and stickers and educating festival goers about biodiesel and its potential to relieve US dependency on foreign oil days before the movie's world premiere. While most people were admittedly confused about biodiesel (is it made from used cooking grease? where do you buy it? how do you make your car run on it?), nearly everyone was enthusiastic about the idea of using biofuels. In fact, talk of global warming and what people could do personally to make a difference was overheard all over town. From Woody Harrelson (who is featured in Fields of Fuel) and Emily Blunt leading discussions about biodiesel at the Cadillac Lounge to Guns 'n Roses drummer Matt Soren stopping by to check out the Veggie Van to Absolut Vodka screening environmental films about cooling the globe to Josh's late afternoon appearance on Park City TV, the topic of renewable fuels seemed to be on everyone's radar.

Early saturday morning Josh met with Dan Rather at the Red Stag Lodge here in Park City. Over breakfast Dan interviewed Josh and two other filmmakers about the power of film to influence American culture and change political policy. The interview will air as part of a program called The Hollywood Influence on Tuesday, January 22, 11pm EST, on HDNet.

Friday turned out to be a big day for the Fields of Fuel film crew. Spirits were already high following Thursday night's private screening of Josh Tickell's documentary at Robert Redford's Sundance Resort, and by mid-day here at production central, the mood was adrenalizing. Josh was interviewed by NPR's Ira Flatow on the morning edition of Talk of the Nation Science Friday, bringing the film's Sundance premiere much sought-after mainstream media attention, and raising public awareness about biodiesel. News spread that tickets to the Fields of Fuel premiere had reached “hard-to-get” status, and Josh was recognized on the street for the first time. An interview in Variety, a film industry must-read, featured a photo of the now-famous Veggie Van in a story profiling the growing popularity of political-themed documentaries. And as the day wound down, the film crew's assembly of volunteers (ready to hit the streets of Park City tomorrow answering questions about biodiesel and the caravan of vehicles bearing the “Make Fuel Not War” Fields of Fuel mantra) were treated to an impromptu screening of the film, fresh from the film editor's desk.

Thursday January 17, 2008 It's 1:00 a.m. in Park City, and we're just getting back from the biggest party of the night at Harry O's. I've made friends with a woman on the team who has been here for six years and knows everyone, which has me sitting in VIP sections, drinking Dom Perignon with bodyguards. Welcome to Sunset Strip in the snow! Really, what tonight was about was letting loose a bit. Our team is working hard and around the clock. Our vehicles are outfitted with sponsor magnets, thanks to Alayah, our swag mistress. The Veggie Lounge is swank and brimming with sponsor goodies, thanks to, well, me. And our director Josh has walked down the red carpet. Each of us seems to be having our own experience, a mix of work and socializing, educating and organizing. At the festival’s height this four-bedroom house will sleep, feed, and shower 35 people. There are laptops and monitors everywhere, including near the hot tub. But the best thing about this house so far is the chef, Jeff. He's an apron-clad rockstar. Every meal is perfect. 1:00 a.m. and the kitchen is full of delight. 1:00 a.m. and the transportation manager is still typing away. 1:00 a.m. and our premiere is only hours away. Ten years of Josh's passion, intensity, and labor, soon to meet the world from a city aglow on a wintery mountaintop. It feels so good to be out with my Fields of Fuel crewmates on such a crisp, cold night, all of us wearing some version of our biodiesel-branded wardrobe. You can't miss us—we're the ones wrapped in the green scarves, sipping champagne behind the velvet rope. ~Andrea J., Veggie Lounge hostess

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 Good Morning from Provo, Utah! I am traveling with the biodiesel caravan on our way to the Sundance Film Festival and representing Fields of Fuel. We are an amazing group of 15 traveling in a caravan from Venice, CA to Park City, Utah stopping overnight in Provo, Utah. Our morning started out with a great speech by our fearless biodiesel leader, Josh. What an adventure the last 29 hours have been! Really the last 29 days if you want to be technical. I calculated that our caravan team had an average of 4.5 hours of sleep the night BEFORE we met at 6am to drive from the Fields of Fuel Office in Venice, California to Provo, Utah. That was the average, I was on the low end at 2.0 and the award went to Sarah Rose our online documentarian at 1.0 hours. But she didn’t drive and I did! We hit all kinds of little troubles, the least of which was the muffler of Bruce’s newly acquired 1983 Mercedes 300 D dragging on the highway to snowy conditions at high altitudes with18 wheelers blowing by. But for the most part, I’m left with fun. An extraordinary group of cooperative souls, heading into a 10 day opportunity to introduce 55,000 of this country’s media decision makers to biodiesel. We are all wearing matching white t-shirts with our MAKE FUEL, NOT WAR motto on it. We are all educated and enthusiastic about leaving a mark on the mountain in Park City. And everywhere we go, we communicate the message of this film, that this is an abundant life and that YOU have a choice. 11:30 meeting in the hotel lobby – then fuel the bodies, fuel the vehicles and drive the 3 remaining hours to move in on the Lodge that will house these 17 passionate difference makers for the next 12 days. It’s snow camp with a purpose!

See you on the mountain J

Andrea J. Veggie Lounge Hostess

We're at the famous owl bar - the original butch cassidy and sundance kid hangout. We were just greeted by Ken, the festival director who said that we were the film selected to launch the sundance film festival out of over 9,000 films. We are moments away from our first screening. I am waxing between complete excitement and wanting to lose my cookies. Cross your fingers everyone! JT and Becca

We arrived. Our producer Greg has a head cold. I am experiencing something akin to whoopig cough. We were sitting in the airport waiting for the new web site mockups to upload and a woman from AOL came over to take our photo! Then I got a call from Reuters and did a news piece. We're already in the news!!!

Well, here we go! Ten years of work is finally culminating at Sundance. We're on the Delta flight headed to the Sundance Preserve for a private screening with Robert Redford! This is a big day for Fields of Fuel and marks an historic occurance for Redford to invite a film to screen the night before the festival. I'll write more as we get closer to the Preserve... JT