Southern Comfort, official WOAO? jibberjabber, and Hungry Filmmakers
Sunday, February 21st, 2010The cold may have touched almost every state of the Union, but the South still radiates a warm welcome… And what better way to feel welcomed then to have WOAO? selected to screen at two film festivals.
The first festival was this weekend at the Magnolia Film Festival in Starksville, MS. WOAO? kept the food conversation going as Saturday night’s feature film.
The second festival will take place in none other then the sunshine state itself at the Florida Film Festival in Maitland, Fl on April 10th. WOAO? was selected to kick off the Food Focused Film weekend! As always, if you’re in the area stop on by it should be a great time.
And while the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival has come and gone, we still have a lasting impression of the warmth and fun we had there, plus a fun interview to snack on! Check out the interview from See Jane Do with Shelley and WOAO?’s very own Marty Mesh! Hear what inspired Shelley to make WOAO?, Marty’s thoughts on the future of organic growing and their comments on natural vs organic: http://www.livestream.com/cognizantproductions/video?clipId=flv_0cb26468-a5f5-4ae4-8c64-e593ab9c9983
And speaking of some tasty multi-media press, tune in to Heritage Radio Network at 1 pm today to hear Shelley joining Hungry Filmmaker’s co-curator, Cathy Erway, on her show, Let’s Eat In. Ana Joanes, director of FRESH, will be there as well, so we’re excited to start talking about eating food, having babies, writing books, and making films as we gear up for the 2nd Installment of Hungry Filmmakers this Tuesday, February 23rd! If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, get one soon: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/93405 And check out our listing in the NY Times Dining Calendar!
Plus, DVDs will be out to manufacture soon and WOAO? website is being updated, dandified & expanded as we speak! Check back soon for more features…
OH, and very important–the comment period has been extended to March 3rd regarding Genetically Engineered Crop contamination, so DON’T FORGET to tell USDA to keep GE Alfafa OUT of our food system! Here’s the True Food Network’s easy Action Page: http://ga3.org/campaign/alfalfaEIS?rk=V1WKc_9aH2M2E
Enjoy!
Shelley and the WOAO? team
I’m happy to say that the December evening of “Hungry Filmmakers” was a successful, sold out event! The audience previewed seven film excerpts; then, Anna Lappe facilitated a discussion with the filmmakers and two esteemed guests—WOAO?’s very own character/co-producer Marty Mesh & an advocate from World Hunger Year. Here’s an article by Columbia Journalism Student, Melissa Muller, recapping the whole event and highlighting a little of WOAO?’s backstory: 
In the meantime, though, for any of you Northern CA folks—we’ll be screening the film at the 
And for those of you hungry for WOAO? content on the web, we are happy to announce that The Organic Trade Association (OTA) has selected a clip of our footage on its newly launched web site,
As we reflect upon all our progress on the film over the past year, we would like to acknowledge the incredible and generous talent of one of our dear friends and member of our crew who passed away just after Thanksgiving in 2009. Lora Hays served as consulting editor on WOAO? and was Shelley’s mentor throughout the making of the film. We feel blessed that we shared part of Lora’s 99 years on this earth and grateful that she imparted some of her wisdom to help make WOAO? a very special film. Here’s a bit more about her life and work, if you’d like to read about a truly fantastic and inspiring woman: