Win Tickets to Whole Foods Digital Film Fest Launch!

Have you heard of the Whole Foods Market Do Something Reel Film Festival? This ongoing annual event will be online this year, allowing people from around the country to watch the films showcased in the festival. I will definitely be taking advantage of the opportunity to check out the films from home, and I hope you will too.

This festival has gotten lots of coverage, including this Mashable article; it’s certainly an innovative way to host an event! The event is launching in Boston on April 22 with a live screening of “The Apple Pushers”, and Whole Foods has given me a pair of tickets to give away to one of you. If you would like to enter to win the tickets, just leave a comment on this post letting me know why. If you aren’t able to attend the live screening, please do check out information on the other showcase films below.

“The Apple Pushers”, which is narrated by Academy Award nominee Edward Norton, and underwritten by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, follows five immigrant street-cart vendors who are offering fruits and vegetables in New York neighborhoods where fresh produce isn’t widely available. The vendors, who take part in a unique urban experiment called The NYC Green Cart Initiative, personify what it means to be an American entrepreneur, and their stories shed new light on the nation’s food crisis and skyrocketing obesity rates.

“The Apple Pushers” screening will be followed by a live-streamed panel discussion with the film’s writer and director, Mary Mazzio; executive producer, Laurie Tisch; and celebrity chef Michel Nischan, streamed live from Alamo Drafthouse’s Slaughter Lane Theater in Whole Foods Market’s hometown of Austin, Texas. Debi Mazar, “Entourage” and Cooking Channel’s “Extra Virgin” star, will host the discussion. You can even send in questions via Twitter!

WHEN: Sunday, April 22, 2012 – 6pm

WHERE: Regal Fenway Stadium 13

201 Brookline Ave., Boston

Tickets can be purchased online here: http://dosomethingreelboston.eventbrite.com/ for $10

MORE INFO: For more information on the Do Something Reel Film Festival, event times and ticket pricing, visit www.dosomethingreel.com or contact your local Whole Foods Market location.

Films slated through August are as follows:

“Watershed” – Directed by Mark Decena, executive produced by Robert Redford and produced by his son, James Redford, the film follows Rocky Mountain National Park fly fishing guide, Jeff Ehlert, and six others living and working in the Colorado River basin. The film illustrates the river’s struggle to support thirty million people across the western U.S. and Mexico as the peace-keeping agreement known as the Colorado River Pact is reaching its limits. (May)

“Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?”– A profound, alternative look at the bee crisis from Taggart Siegel, award-winning director of “The Real Dirt on Farmer John.” On a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive, the film weaves together a story of the heart-felt struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world and uncovers the long-term causes that could create one of our most urgent food crises. (June)

Ian Cheney Retrospective: “King Corn” and “Truck Farm” – Each of the films Cheney has created or co-created spotlights an important environmental or food issue, from mobile gardens to the subsidized crops fueling our fast-food nation. Cheney was last year’s Whole Foods Market and AFI-Silverdocs grant recipient for his new work-in-progress, “Bluespace.” (July)

“Lunch Line” – Co-directed by Ernie Park and Michael Graziano, this film offers a fresh perspective on the politics of food and child-nutrition through an examination of the surprising past, uncertain present, and possible future of the National School Lunch Program.  The film reframes the school lunch debate through archival footage, expert interviews, and the uplifting story of six kids from one of the toughest neighborhoods in Chicago who set out to fix school lunches — and end up at the White House. (August)