The Spark Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Christina Heller
323-207-5074
Christina.Heller@gmail.com
FILMMAKER GETS EXCLUSIVE ACCESS INSIDE OPEN SOURCE ECOLOGY’S FACTOR E FARM
- IGNITETHESPARK
Meet Dr. Marcin Jakubowski, who lives on a remote farm in rural Missouri. His world is one of mud and machines, and most nights he can be found welding in the back of his earthen brick workshop. Elsewhere engines rumble and sparks fly. This is Factor E Farm, ground zero of the Open Source Ecology movement. Their mission is to re-design the world’s most important machines using common tools and materials. Marcin’s team of engineers design and test these machines day and night, and then release the plans over the internet... for free.
Meet Nat Turner, who drove a school bus to New Orleans with a dream of healing the Lower 9th Ward after Hurricane Katrina. He gained national attention for transforming an abandoned grocery store into a community youth education center, Our School Blair Grocery, where he teaches kids to sell vegetables instead of crack. Most of his students come from within the Ninth Ward, and for some it’s is not just a classroom; it’s a sanctuary.
While Marcin tackles world issues, Turner works locally. What happens when these two projects collide?
Film director Ian Midgley travelled across the country for a year and a half, filming underground activists. He was granted exclusive access to these and other projects, often the first camera to be granted a behind-the-scenes look. His feature documentary,The Spark, is about transforming from passive observer to participant in the world around us. Ian’s camera linked these two projects together, and with the release of The Spark, will continue bridging connections through sharing information between pro-active organizations worldwide. The Spark is not just a film; It’s a social action campaign.
At the dawn of the 21st century, America’s spiraling energy consumption hijacks our democracy and gambles our planet’s future. Meanwhile, 50 million Americans live in poverty, while our government stalls behind party lines. How can we break the cycle? The Spark shows a blueprint for realistic, immediate solutions. We follow two rogue pioneers —Dr. Marcin Jakubowski and Nat Turner—whose audacious thinking and radical community empowerment may raise the scaffold of a new American evolution: a healthy, fair, honest culture.
Movie Trailer: http://vimeo.com/58003338
The Spark | A Groundbreaking Documentary [Official Trailer] from The Spark Doc on Vimeo.
Awards and Initiatives: The Spark team was awarded a highly competitive grant from the American Documentary Film Fund in April 2013. The producers and director are actively promoting sustainability and activism through social media including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Through the Ignite the Spark campaign, visitors to the team’s social media sites learn what they can do to live a more environmentally and economically sustainable life through videos and articles.
Release Date: 2013
Studio: Filament Features & Cropaganda Films
Starring: Marcin Jakubowski, lead developer at Open Source Ecology
Nat Turner, founder of Our School at Blair Grocery
Director: Ian Midgley
Producers: Christina Heller, Siku Thompson, & Derin J. Turner
Contact: Christina.Heller@gmail.com
Website: http://www.TheSparkFilm.com/
Social Media:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheSparkDoc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSparkDoc
Tumblr: https://thesparkdoc.tumblr.com/
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/TheSparkDoc
