Independent America

Best Feature!

For Immediate Release – April 14, 2009

INDEPENDENT AMERICA – RISING FROM RUINS, WINS BEST FEATURE AT NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL

NEW ORLEANS/TORONTO APRIL 14, 2009 - Independent America: Rising from Ruins has won the Patois Award for Best Feature at the New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival. The film (70’, HD) (http://www.risingfromruins.com) takes a hard yet hopeful look at the risks and rewards faced by entrepreneurs leading the recovery in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Emily Ratner, Festival Co-Director states, “We are thrilled to present the Patois Award for Best Feature to the film Independent America: Rising From Ruins.  This award is one of the highest honors that our festival bestows and is given to the film that most exemplifies our mission: using the media of film to generate and promote community dialogue about important social justice issues. Rising from Ruins is exactly the kind of film we love to present. It is a powerful film that is especially relevant to all of us living here in New Orleans. And it’s great filmmaking.”

US Film Festival Premiere

For Immediate Release - March 31, 2009

RISING FROM RUINS SET TO HAVE U.S. PREMIERE AT NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL APRIL 1

NEW ORLEANS/TORONTO March 31, 2009 - Independent America: Rising from Ruins, a new feature documentary by filmmaker Hanson Hosein and Executive Producer Tom Powers will have its U.S. premiere at PATOIS: The Sixth Annual New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival on April 1 at 6 pm at the New Orleans Museum of Modern Art.

Independent America: Rising from Ruins (70’, HD) (http://www.risingfromruins.com) takes a hard yet hopeful look at the risks and rewards of small business ownership in post Katrina New Orleans. It depicts the locals coming home to resurrect their businesses and neighbourhoods and the challenges they now face from all sides including their City government and big box retail.

Emily Ratner, Festival Co-Director states, “We are so proud to help bring this premiere to New Orleans. Rising from Ruins is exactly the kind of film we love to present. It is a powerful film that is especially relevant to all of us living here in New Orleans. And its great filmmaking.”

In NOLA in time for another storm?

Got into New Orleans safely this morning.  My carbon fiber tripod somehow missed the connection in Houston (steady shots are overrated), but Hertz upgraded me to a Trailblazer, which I might need if Hurricane Gustav ends up tracking this way.

Here's our official press release for the premiere:

For Immediate Release, August 27, 2008

“NEW DOCUMENTARY ON SMALL-BUSINESS STRUGGLE IN NEW
ORLEANS DEBUTS ON KATRINA ANNIVERSARY”

Bruce Foret has spent the three years since Hurricane Katrina struggling to rebuild Oak Street Hardware in New Orleans.  His city is at a tipping point: parts of it still look like a war zone, the recovery slowed down by a bad economy and depopulation.  But he refuses to abandon his neighborhood, even as city hall is paving the way for big box stores to enter the local market.

A new film documents the risks small business owners took in resurrecting their neighborhoods and the threats they now face. Independent America: Rising from Ruins debuts Saturday at “New Orleans Speaks: We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting For,” a symposium sponsored by The New Orleans Institute, which focuses on innovative ways to restore the city. The film trailer is available at http://risingfromruins.com.  The film airs at 6 pm and again at 8 pm on Saturday, August 30, upstairs at Massey’s Professional Outfitters, 509 N. Carrollton Avenue.   Discussion with filmmaker Hanson Hosein will follow the first seating.  Call 504-232-7821 to reserve a seat.

BusinessWeek redux: The New Entrepreneur

Quite a day for press coverage -- two interviews before 11 a.m. and we didn't even put out a release!  BusinessWeek originally profiled IA, then did a follow-up blog discussion on us a couple of years ago.  Somehow they remembered us, and put together this item today.  I'm actually quite a bit more optimistic for Mom & Pop than I was portrayed in the article -- I intend "Rising from Ruins" to be both a cautionary tale, and an inspirational film.

Yes, "intend."  Here I am, struggling to get everything done in time for our intended August 30th premiere in New Orleans (on the 3rd anniversary of Katrina).  Hopefully, the film will be the showcase of a day-long event sponsored by the New Orleans Institute, "New Orleans Speaks: We Are the Ones We've been Waiting For." 

I'm heading to New York City next week to interview Naomi Klein, who wrote "Shock Doctrine" about how power brokers take advantage of disasters to push through unpopular policies.  She had some particularly poignant things to say about post-Katrina New Orleans.  I'm eager to compare observations with her to see if we're on the same page.

NOLA reacts to Rising from Ruins

New Orleans’  Times-Picayune (one of the best, and most vital newspapers that still stands strong), featured “Independent America: Rising from Ruins” in an op-ed article today.

I guess that bike interview we conducted with Dr. Blakeley is getting some attention...watch the film trailer to see what I'm referring to.

I'm just thrilled that I'm mentioned in the same edition as my favorite band (and fellow Canuckians), Rush.  Now there's a set of artists who understand the meaning and value of "independence" and "self-sufficiency."

Australian interview

Read a good and thorough interview that I did this weekend with an Australian online entertainment magazine Parx-e Webzine, here.

Smallbiz America Podcast

David Wolf from Smallbiz America features us on his site (David interviewed us two years ago about the film (!)) with a podcast interview he conducted with me.

You can catch it here.

IA's "Super" Canadian broadcast deal

Super Channel and Open Door Co. announce Canadian premieres

    EDMONTON, AB, Oct. 2 /CNW Telbec/ - Super Channel, Canada's new national
pay television network set to launch this fall, and Open Door Co. are thrilled
to announce the Canadian premieres of feature documentaries INDEPENDENT
AMERICA: THE TWO LANE SEARCH FOR MOM AND POP and CRACKED NOT BROKEN.
    "Super Channel is proud to offer smart documentaries, produced right here
in Canada, by companies such as Open Door. They are a terrific example of the
innovation we will be offering Canadians," said Sandy Perkins, Super Channel,
Vice-president Programming. "We are hearing from more and more Canadians who
are eager to expand their viewing options and are pleased we can find them
entertainment made right here at home."
    "We are thrilled and honoured that Super Channel has acquired our first
two films and will be giving each of them their Canadian Premiere" said
President and Executive Producer of Toronto-based Open Door, Tom Powers. "It
is great that these films will be coming home to a Canadian audience after the
success they have had to date in the US with our broadcast of Cracked Not
Broken on HBO and Independent America on Sundance Channel".
    

IA's International Distribution Deal

Beyond Distribution and Open Door Co. are thrilled to announce that Beyond has been appointed worldwide distributor of Open Door’s documentaries INDEPENDENT AMERICA: THE TWO LANE SEARCH FOR MOM AND POP and CRACKED NOT BROKEN. Beyond Distribution will officially launch both films in October at MIPCOM in Cannes, France.

In the fascinating documentary INDEPENDENT AMERICA: THE TWO LANE SEARCH FOR MOM AND POP (81’ and 52’) former NBC foreign correspondents and married couple, Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes hit the road and travel 13,000 miles through 32 US states in search of “Independent America”.  Forty years ago, ”Mom & Pop” owned small businesses were an endangered species as corporate retail advanced quickly through the consumer heartland of the world. But today, small businesses are clawing their way back and are fighting for the right to remain independent. This award winning film was recently broadcast in the US on Sundance Channel. Produced by Open Door Co. and HRH Media (www.independentamerica.net).

USA Today blurb

For what it's worth, here's USA Today's mention of our upcoming broadcast (the reporter loved our film).

Airs on Sundance, Wednesday at 2:15 a.m., 7:15 p.m.; July 13 at 6 a.m.; July 30 at 5:35 p.m., 11:45 p.m.; available on DVD, $19.99

Former NBC reporters Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes (husband and wife) went on a cross-country trip to 32 states in 2005 in search of towns with local economies. "We kept hearing about these pockets of resistance against chains in the United States," Hosein said. They had two rules: avoid interstate highways and eat and sleep at locally owned places.