Director Kevin Tomlinson was out
for a road trip in Eastern Washington State in the late 1980s and discovered a
healing gathering (this is mostly a bunch of people singing and dancing in a field). He was impressed that, even though the counterculture was a
bit passé, they were sticking to their ideals about love and commitment to the
earth. He filmed some interviews and filed the footage away. Twenty years later
he decided to look up the old characters, people with names like Skeeter and
OnePine and the result is the documentary
. He found that these idealists were still walking the walk, living in isolated
communities in rural Washington, many of them living self-sufficiently through
farming and off the grid with solar energy.

is inspiring and with the
perspective of a few decades, the back-to-the-landers are both sincere and
funny. There have been trade-offs for all of them but they are happy with their
chosen paths.

played with a shorter film called

about a 13 acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles. At
this farm, poor families grew their own organic food and taught their children
about plants and herbs. The city sold the land below market value and
eventually the farm was destroyed. It’s sad, but maybe there is still hope.

No more screenings for these films.