The world premiere of Kora, shot by Burt Chojnowki on location in China, Tibet in Nepal will premiere on Saturday, May 1st at 8:00 p.m. at Revelations (upstairs) in Fairfield.  Revelations will be converted into a state-of-the art digital cinema for the event including Dolby surround sound. This event is a benefit for Fairfield First and the Fairfield Volunteer Center. A free will donation is requested.

Kora documents the circumambulation or parikarma of Mount Kailash, considered the holiest mountain on earth. Revered by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and others, a circumambulation, or kora, of Mount Kailash and dip in the holy waters of nearby Lake Mansarovar removes the sins of all life times. The video was shot at altitudes of 15,000-20,000 feet above sea level. Only a few thousand visitors are allowed in to Tibet each year to make the pilgrimage to one of the most remote places on the planet. Kora includes visits to sacred places in Sichuan Province of China, “the heavenly state,” and Kathmandu, Nepal. The soundtrack includes music from Guru Ganesha Singh and Manish Vayas.

A story of the trip was featured in the Sunday edition of the Des Moines Register on April 11, 2010 in the Life Section. You can find the link and get more information at www.Kora-movie.com.

Finding Fairfield features the real and funny stories of how Savannah Quinn, David Paterson, Troy Van Beek and Truckstop Souvenir discovered, and subsequently moved to Fairfield.

Seating is limited. Reservations may be made in advance at Buzz@FairfieldFirst.biz

Francis Thicke is holding a film screening fundraiser for his candidacy for Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture.

The producers of the award-winning documentary film King Corn have released a sequel: Big River. Both Big River and an abbreviated version of King Corn will be shown Friday, February 19, starting at 7:30 p.m. on the 10-foot movie screen in Morning Star Studio’s ballroom, upstairs at 51 1/2 South Court Street on the east side of the Fairfield Town Square.

In King Corn college friends Ian and Curt plant one acre of Iowa corn and follow their harvested corn into the food system. What they find raises troubling questions about how we eat, how we farm, and the stuff we’re really made of.

In the Big River sequel, Ian and Curt track the trail of fertilizers and chemicals used to produce their acre of corn and discover how farm runoff travels through waterways to eventually reach the Gulf of Mexico, where that pollution causes an aquatic dead zone.

Friday night’s event will begin at 7:30 with a 50-minute version of King Corn, followed by the 30-minute film Big River. After the films Francis will spend a few minutes outlining his vision for a sustainable agriculture and food system in Iowa and will ask you to share your thoughts as well.

A minimum $5 donation is requested for the evening. Additional contributions are welcome.

More information on Francis Thicke’s campaign for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture can be found at www.thickeforagriculture.com.

King Corn Trailer:

Big River Trailer:

“The Secretary of Defense deeply regrets to inform you that your son (or daughter) / rank / name has been killed while on duty.” These terrible words begin the scripted message spoken by the U.S. military’s casualty notification team, two uniformed gentlemen that nobody wants to see at their door. When a soldier dies, their job is to inform the NOK (next of kin) immediately and express sympathy with a few memorized words that go unheard while the family reacts with fury, screaming, or disbelief.

Ben Foster as Sgt. Will Montgomery in The Messenger

The notification team must follow strict guidelines. They speak only to the NOK. They do not make physical contact. They do not soften the message of death with ambiguous phrases like “passed away.” They express sympathy while maintaining a professional distance. They are not friends, they are not family; they are just the messengers.

The Messenger delivers great nuance through the superb performances of Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, and through the skilled writing and direction of Oren Moverman, an Israeli army veteran who co-wrote I’m Not There. The Messenger is one of those films that uses 30 percent less dialogue than most, and a lean cast that is quality, not quantity. Ben Foster, whose impressive Hollywood resumé began with community theater in Fairfield, Iowa, plays Sgt. Will Montgomery, a decorated war soldier whose tour of duty in Iraq is ending. Having recovered from his wounds, he enters his final weeks of service stateside by teaming with casualty notification veteran Sgt. Tony Stone, played to the max by a spirited Woody Harrelson. Samantha Morton plays the wife of a casualty soldier who appears to have mixed feelings, and continues as a person of interest with a role in the story.

Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster on a grim mission in The Messenger

The Messenger is a small quiet film about the big noisy topic of war. It juxtaposes military formality with the extreme emotion of grief, and the pain of vulnerability. And makes it clear that there are two kinds of people: those who have seen war and those who have not. Because, as Officer Stone says, once you’ve seen it, you can never un-see it. But the experience of war is not required to appreciate the insights that seep out through the sparse dialogue, and through the connection that slowly develops between two officers whose job requires some pretty thick skin. This film looks at that layer of protection. It’s about life and loss, and life after loss. This film is about being human.

Grade: A-

5th Annual €œFree€ Holiday Movie

€œThe Grinch€

showing at the

Co-Ed Theatre In Fairfield

11am – Saturday, December 5th

• Visit with Santa from 10am to show time
• Admission €œfree€ with a donation of non perishable food items€¦
• All food collected will be given to The Lord’s Cupboard

Also sponsored by: Everybody’s Whole Food Store; First National Bank; Taco Johns; Midwest One; Jefferson County Health Center; Edward Jones €“ Brian Olson, agent; Gamrath Doyle Insurance; Cambridge Investment Research, Inc.; Fairfield GMAC; Shelter Insurance; Josie Hannes Design; Sunnybrook Assisted Living; Top of the Rock Grille; Davis & Palmer Real Estate; Danaher Oil; Sunnybrook Home Health Care; Community 1st Credit Union

Check out the trailer for this hysterical movie featuring Jim Carrey as The Grinch:

Have an idea for a 10 minutes short film Drama or Documentary? Film it, upload it to YouTube and submit it to the Iowa Short Film and Script-Writing Contest. Or if you’re not an aspiring director, write the script and submit it to the film festival – two winning scripts will be translated to film by experienced directors.

FairfieldVoice will be featuring entries submitted to YouTube. Tag your entries with “fairfieldfilmfest” and then insert the link to your video in the comments section below. We’ll cover each entry with a dedicated blog post, and harness the Fairfield Twitter and Facebook community to make it go Iowa viral.

Who knows, the Fairfield Iowa Film Festival could launch your short film to national recognition.

The details:

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Food, Inc. at Morning Star Studio, Saturday, November 28. Film and panel discussion sponsored by JFAN, Radiance Dairy, Buy Fresh Buy Local, SLC, Sierra Club, and KRUU-FM.

So, what’s really in the food you are eating? Food, Inc., a highly acclaimed expose by producer/director Robert Kenner, is a searing look at what we call food these days. This eye-opening documentary will be shown on Saturday, November 28 at 7:00 pm at Morning Star Studio.

Compelling and powerful €“ it rates 97% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer €“ Food, Inc. lifts the veil of secrecy on the US food industry. Investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) divulge the real cost of the €œcheap€ food we buy and its impacts on consumer health, the livelihood of American farmers, worker safety, and the environment.

€œThere hasn’t been a film this important about American food production, and probably not about industrialized food anywhere,€ says Corby Kummer in The Atlantic.

A panel discussion will follow the film, featuring Francis Thicke, co-owner and co-operator of Radiance Dairy; Mary Carter, director of Buy Fresh Buy Local; and organic farmer Steve Hickenbottom. The film is sponsored by Jefferson County Farmers & Neighbors, Inc. in partnership with Radiance Dairy, Buy Fresh Buy Local, Sustainable Living Coalition, Sierra Club, and KRUU-FM.

Interviews with food experts, farmers, businessmen, government representatives, and food advocates reveal where our food comes from and how it is made. Creative animation and clever graphics interspersed throughout the film expose the highly mechanized, Orwellian corporate underbelly deliberately hidden from the American consumer.

The film also features courageous people, like Stonyfield Farm’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farm’s Joel Salatin, who are finding ways to work inside and outside the system to improve food quality. Others are brave men and women who have chosen to speak out, such as chicken farmer Carole Morison, seed cleaner Moe Parr, and food safety advocate Barbara Kowalcyk.

While Food, Inc. doesn’t contain representatives from the food giants, it’s not from a lack of trying. Monsanto, Tyson, Perdue and Smithfield all refused to be interviewed for the film.

“Don’t take another bite till you see Food, Inc.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone Magazine

Need we say more?

Admission to Food, Inc. is $5. An organic bake sale will be held. Donations and all profits support the work of the sponsoring organizations.

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