Downtown Film Festival’s Day-Long ‘Green’ Event
Set for Sunday, August 17th, 12 noon to 10 pm
Grand Avenue - Bunker Hill - Downtown L.A.

Live Entertainment from Fantasy Record Artists The Gabe Dixon Band

An Outdoor Screening of a FLOW, Major New Documentary Film

Plus, A Farmer’s Market, Organic Food Court, Panel Discussions

***** Free To The Public! ****

August 4, 2008 (LOS ANGELES ) - The 2008 Downtown Film Festival – Los Angeles (www.dffla <http://www.dffla> .) will devote an entire day celebrating and exploring urban environmentalism on Sunday, August 17th, 12 noon to 10 pm in a series of programs presented free to the public on and around Grand Avenue, between 2nd and 4th Streets, in the heart of the downtown L.A.’s Bunker Hill.

During the day, from 12 noon to 6 pm, enjoy a farmer’s market complete with an organic food court, gardening and cooking demonstrations, and a beer-and-wine garden; free screenings of a wide range of “green” documentary films at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) auditorium, and an incredible line-up of panel discussions about next-generation urban parks, the evolving electric automobile, the fast-growing “slow food” movement, and the red-hot political topic of “green collar” jobs.

Later that evening, the festival concludes with an outdoor screening Los Angeles premiere screening of Flow, the hit documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Program Highlight Includs:

Farmers Market and Slow Food Court
Grand Avenue between 2nd and 4th, 12 noon to 6 pm

Over 60 food, farm, green business, craft and green not for profit booths will offer delicious California fare. Enjoy fresh salads, ice cream, rotisserie chicken, fish, cobbler, juices, and more. Talk to small local growers about their farms, while sampling their deliciously prepared produce.

Also, sample local beer and organic wine in our Karl Strauss beer and Silver Lake Wine garden! Shop for organic produce, native plants from the Theodore Payne Foundation, green crafts, products and services. Visit community booths featuring a bicycle rodeo and repair, organic gardening and cooking demonstrations. And Bicycle valet service!

Panel Discussions – Four panels will tackle topics on the minds of all environmentally-conscious Angelenos: “Electric Cars: Are They Ready For Their Close-up?”; “Green Collars Jobs – Building a Renewable Future”; “Think Slow, Eat Local – A New Way Of Thinking About Food,” and “Pocket Parks: Grassroots Gardens in the Urban Landscape.” Moderators include Anna Scott, Downtown News; Russ Parsons, food columnist for the LA Times, and the author of How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table; Ken Bensinger, automotive reporter, LA Times, and Jan Perry, Los Angeles City Councilperson, Council District 9 (full schedule available on request)

Documentary Film Screenings – Enjoy over 20 environmental-theme documentary short and feature films, including the Live Earth Shorts Program and ranging in topics from urban farms to alternative fuels and L.A.’s diverse bicycle culture. All screenings are free at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) theater, adjacent to California Plaza. (full schedule attached)

Live Entertainment – The evening’s festivities will begin with a live musical performance from the piano-driven trio Gabe Dixon Band, whose new self-title album is about to be released by Fantasy Records. The band draws heavily from Seventies singer-songwriter crafted music and has been compared critically to early Elton John and Jackson Brown and contemporary Ben Folds,

Los Angeles Premiere Screening of the New Environmental Documentary Film FLOW

For Love Of Water (2008, USA, 93 mins.) Following a successful Sundance premiere Irena Salinas’s film comes to LA with FLOW, a cautionary documentary detailing the precarious future faced by both rich and poor nations unless change is realized soon.
Water is our most important natural resource, more crucial to our civilization than gold, iron, or even oil. Our water supplies are being stretched to the limit by population, social, and economic pressures.