A Salute To Earth Week
Yesterday, I spent the day at the Comic Arts Laugh Festival in Belfast, Maine which is about a 45 minute drive. More specifically, I watched a bunch of independent movies.
We got to the theater and the sign said “Independent Movies- 4 hours”. “Can you handle this?” I asked Sean, indicating the sign. He said he could so we bought tickets ($4 each), only to be refunded a few minutes later.
“It’s going to be free.” said Mike, the Festival organizer. “We don’t mind paying!” I said, and meant it. Sean and I were in the process of buying a large popcorn and a drink. Mike handed Sean the money back and I took the refund and handed it to the concession lady in a bizarre exchange of funds. So far, “today is my treat” had only come out to $6.50 and the gas to come to Belfast.
What followed was a series of interesting films I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.
Sean’s favorite was the Mensher Brothers film “He’s My Dad.” (See the trailer here.) The trailer doesn’t do the movie justice; it is very funny and inappropriate. A girl knocks on the convict’s door (which we later find out is her father), and after a bizarre exchange he says something to the effect of “So you’re a minor knocking at my door and I’m a newly released convict wearing no pants (he’s in a bathrobe) and you want to come in? Sure, I don’t see the harm in that.” The dialogue was deadpan and the movie closed with an original score father/kid duet “He’s My Dad” that made us chuckle through the credits. “…a penitentiary grad, he’s my dad…”
“We wanted the audience to immediately know the girl was in no danger (referring to the beginning scene of the movie). That wouldn’t have been funny.” One of the brothers said after the showing. Oh, did I mention all the filmmakers were there?
My favorite movies were by House of Hugs Productions which is run by Julia Radochia. They were all funny and true to life and told an interesting story in a short amount of time. These are all features I really appreciate in a movie. “I Just Want To Eat My Sandwich” is her latest film that has gotten the most acclaim. This poor woman keeps trying to eat her sandwich in her windowless cubicle when people keep interrupting to ask her questions. As someone who eats at my desk so I can blog, I understand this. I get interrupted about work stuff almost constantly. To be honest, I really liked all of them. I may ask Julia about how to go about buying a DVD.
The festival closed with a movie called “Tire Tracks” about the burning rubber subculture in Deer Isle/Stonington, Maine. I guess it was featured in The New York Times before I started reading it. I’ve seen the tracks myself but I live half an hour away and had no idea of what it all really meant.
So what does this long post have to do with Earth Week? By providing support to small and local businesses (like a local festival at a local theater), you are help keeping money in your economy and you’re probably actually helping someone (or some people) make a living rather than padding some rich guy’s wallet. Also this means that theoretically less resources are being transported, which is always really hard on the planet. So buy local, not only things but entertainment. You’re helping keep it close to you by supporting it and helping the environment by using resources close at hand rather than trucking them in.