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For Immediate Release
September 1, 2006 |
Stills & Video footage Available
contact: Rick Bacigalupi (415) 282-0340
Rick@BaciPix.com
www.ALotinCommon.com |
Around the World, Neighbors find they have "A Lot in Common"
Indie documentary on gardening, greening and peace seeks international distribution after successful U.S. public television and educational offerings.
San Francisco, CA. September 1, 2006. Local independent production company BaciPix has announced it is seeking international distribution for the documentary feature A Lot in Common. Originally made available for broadcast on public television stations nationally in 2004 through the National Educational Television Association (NETA), the film follows the construction of a community garden built on a previously vacant lot above a subway tunnel entrance in Berkeley, California. It is an intimate glimpse into the lives of a handful of extraordinary neighbors, who face conflicts head-on in ways that have relevance to communities globally.
But it's not all flowers and sunshine at the Peralta Community Peace Garden. Even before groundbreaking, controversy swirls around the project when neighbors disagree as to the best use for the space. Hashing it out with the landlord and public officials, they set the stage for what becomes a lively one-hour recounting of the five-year story.
Landscape architect and psychologist Karl Linn—the mover and shaker behind the building of the garden—provides commentary throughout the program. Having escaped the Holocaust as a child, Linn has devoted his life to creating remarkable, disarming places where people can meet and get to know one another in peace and safety. He calls this kind of communal space the “neighborhood commons” and explains how the ancient “Commons” can be reclaimed even by people living in congested urban environments.
Lending credence and context as the garden story unfolds are PBS NewsHour's senior correspondent Ray Suarez (The Old Neighborhood), reknown urban planning expert Jane Jacobs (The Death and Life of Great American Cities), environmentalist Paul Hawken (Natural Capitalism), Director of the Ford Foundation's Sustainable Metropolitan Communities Initiative Carl Anthony, and British scholar David Crouch.
But the true stars of A Lot in Common are the neighbors themselves. There's Joan the single mom and her toddler Amy, Grandpa Roosevelt and his grandson Josh, Phil the disabled-rights advocate, and Ruthe the psychic, to name a few. We see artists Amy Blackstone, Dmitry Grudsky, and Fran Segal create stunning works of public art for placement in the garden. Architect Darryl DeBoer builds a bamboo arbor to demonstrate environmentally sustainable construction techniques. Gradually, the once trash-strewn vacant lot transforms into the jewel of the neighborhood, through the elbow grease and determination of the group.
Things get tense when one gardener accepts a donation of grass sod from a local nursery, throwing the gardeners into a tumult: water-guzzling sod is politically incorrect in the all-organic, all-ecofriendly plots. Another confrontation ensues when Ruthe lets her pet rabbit roam unleashed through Joan's tomato patch.
But when Joan is diagnosed with cancer, the stunned gardeners rally to her side. More than just a space to grow vegetables, Peralta has become home to a tight-knit community of neighbors who respect and care for one another. Karl commissions artist Kitti Shahoian to create a sculpture of Joan and Amy to be placed in the garden, which years earlier Joan had worked so hard to help build.
“A Lot in Common is a well-crafted, humanistic documentary that kept me thoroughly engaged,” says Danny McGuire, a KQED San Francisco Executive Producer. The film is Emmy Award-winning producer/editor/camera Rick Bacigalupi's first feature length documentary, and has been picked up for educational distribution by Pennsylvania-based Bullfrog Films (www.bullfrogfilms.com).
The video project has been endorsed by the American Community Gardening Association, whose Web site (www.communitygarden.org) is a great place to find out more about this burgeoning national interest. Over half a million gardeners work in more than 10,000 gardens across North America, according to the national nonprofit, whose mission statement cites gardening as a way to build community, foster social and environmental justice, eliminate hunger, empower communities, break down racial and ethnic barriers, reduce crime, and otherwise create sustainable communities. A community gardening curriculum is also available from ACGA.
National Educational Television Association (NETA) distributes award-winning programs and series to public television stations who are members of the Public Broadcasting System. Offering a wide range of entertainment and educational materials, NETA is a key partner in public broadcasting in America.
For more on the documentary, including updates on theatrical screenings of the 77-minute Director's Cut and national broadcast through NETA and Free Speech TV, visit www.ALotinCommon.com, where downloadable clips are available for viewing.
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Downloads
Press release (Word format)
Press photo* (300 DPI JPEG)
*Photo credit must be included whenever image is used: ©2000 Edward Caldwell
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Copyright © 2003 Rick Bacigalupi / A Lot in Common. |
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