"I Will Dance" Tour with Joseph East

It was an incredible trip touring I Will Dance on the Southern Circuit. All of my hosts, as well as the people I was given the opportunity to meet, were welcoming and generous. Below are my top 10 highlights, in no particular order:

1. “I WILL” Cards

At the end of each showing, we handed out cards and invited everyone in the audience to share their stories by writing down a personal commitment. Seeing what people wrote on their cards always touched and inspired me. Here are a few: I WILL live cage free. I WILL strive to be the best I can be. I WILL stand up and stand out. What’s YOURS? 

                      

                                       

2. Central BBQ in Memphis: “Go where the locals go”

I asked them what the best thing on the menu was, and without hesitating the employee said, “you have to try the pork sandwich.” I did. And my tastebuds were happy.

3.The Kentucky Bed and Breakfast

It was unique and antique, with an illuminated stained-glass bed hanging, a trombone on the wall and homemade quiche for breakfast. What’s not to love?

4. The Diversity

One thing I loved about the tour was the wide range of screening venues and audiences. In downtown Memphis, we screened at the beautiful Halloran Centre in their state-of-the-art theatre. The very next venue was an old simple church in a small town. Some audiences were primarily students of color while others were older and white. Every experiences was unique (and terrific!).

5. The Civil Rights Museum

I had an extra day in Memphis, so I decided to spend part of it at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. To stand in that spot was an unforgettable, emotional experience.

                             
                       

6. Live Music

Remember the old church? As part of the pre-film reception, my hosts went all out by including a live jam session! One bucket-list item crossed off the list…

7. Heartwarming reactions

During a Q&A, one woman grabbed the mic and talked about the courage of the kids in I Will Dance to stand up for what they believed in. Choking back tears and with resolve in her voice, she said, “I want to dance with those kids on the bridge.” The showing was only a couple hours from Selma, where the kids are from and her interest in putting her feet to their cause means more than I can simply express.

8. Seeing friends

Since several showings were within a few hours of Selma, some of the film’s subjects joined for showings and Q&As. Their unique voices and perspectives were a HUGE addition to the experience for the audiences and a big support to me.

9. Feet in the Ocean

When I arrived in Bonita Springs, FL, I had about an hour before the screening, and I knew exactly how to spend it.

10. Meeting Future Storytellers

At the showings, I had the pleasure to meet young people who want to tell stories– to become editors, journalists, directors and more. They are the future, and if the story of I Will Dance inspired any one of them to create, question or dream more, the trip was more than worth it for them alone.

Pete Tedrow from The Starfish Throwers visits Winder Cultural Arts Center, Morris Museum of Art, Wallace State Community College

From Impact Producer Pete Tedrow of The Starfish Throwers:


Winder, Georgia - Sunday, March 15, 2015
The second stop on our Southern Circuit Tour, and my first as Impact Producer, landed me in the lovely small town of Winder, Georgia. The Winder Cultural Arts Center is a true gem. Cultural Arts Director Don Wildsmith and film programmer Christopher Childs of Wilder Television make an excellent team.

The Q&A led Christopher after the film showed just how engaged and well-versed Winder audiences are with documentaries and independent film in general.  It was a special pleasure to have members of the local First United Methodist Church youth group in attendance, and to chat with them more after the Q&A. It’s young people like them who can inspire a generation of young people to throw starfish and make a difference in their own communities.

Augusta, Georgia - Tuesday, March 17, 2015
On the banks of the historic Savannah River in Augusta, Georgia, lies the Morris Museum of Art, the third stop on our tour. Director Kevin Grogan and Michelle Schulte, Curator of Education, were gracious hosts! Even though it was St. Patrick’s Day and over 80 degrees outside, it didn’t stop a highly engaged audience from attending our screening.

Katie Stagliano’s story was especially moving to the seniors in the audience - always so uplifting to see how a young girl can inspire older adults to work for positive change in their communities. Being that Katie lives just a few hours to the East in Summerville, SC, there was definitely some southern pride in the room.

Hanceville, Alabama - Thursday, March 19, 2015
The last stop for The Starfish Throwers on the tour was the small Alabama town of Hanceville. Wallace State Community College and its Burrow Center are top-notch facilities! Staff writer Russell Moore and the whole team at Wallace State (Gail, Jesse, Stefany) helped run two very smooth screenings, one in the morning and one in the early evening.

Most impressive, though, were the students of Wallace State. I had the pleasure to chat with many of them after the morning screening—hearing about how they themselves throw starfish, and how inspired they are to begin lives in which they do just that through their future work as doctors, nurses, and artists. Young people like these definitely give me hope that the future has good things in store for all of us.

On the Road with Michael Glover and Robyn Rosenkrantz from Go with Le Flo

From Michael Glover (writer, director, musician) and Robyn Rosenkrantz (producer, musician) from Go with Le Flo:

We’re so grateful to have shared our new film Go with Le Flo and our Bright Blue Gorilla music on the Southern Circuit tour. Our film was shot in Berlin and is a German & French romantic comedy with English subtitles.  Right before we landed in Atlanta, we had a great 3 month tour doing concerts and screenings all around Europe. We were curious to see how the film would play in the South.  Some of the audiences had never seen a Foreign film. The audiences were enthusiastic and many left very inspired. Here’s what happened…

 - Robyn and Michael

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November 5, 2014
Clemson University
Clemson, SC

Before we drove from Atlanta, GA to our first show at Clemson University in South Carolina, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to try some Southern food! We stopped off at the Flying Biscuit and got our fill of the creamiest grits we’d ever had. We had a great vegetarian breakfast of fried green tomatoes, veggie sausage, eggs, whole wheat biscuits with apple-cranberry butter and super tender collard greens. We don’t get this type of food in Los Angeles!

Great restaurant in Atlanta, GA

Michael and Robyn enjoying the Southern Food!

Eggs, Veggie Sausage, Fried Green Tomatoes, and the creamiest grits ever!

We stopped off at the South Carolina Welcome center and were inspired by the beautiful fall leaves.

Beautiful Fall leaves in South Carolina

Before the show, Amy Monaghan, a professor from Clemson University met us for a Mexican Dinner to welcome us. Then we headed over to the nice auditorium.  It was an interesting mix of film studies, language, and geography students. They all stayed for the Q&A and asked some great questions. One of the students wrote an amazing Go with Le Flo review on IMDB! We spoke with one young student after the show who had dreams to become a producer. She was very inspired and had tons of questions. We really enjoy sharing the wealth of knowledge we’ve picked up along the way. Our motto is to just dive in and create, learn by doing. No matter how many mistakes you make, if you just keep going and don’t give up, your movies are going to get better and better.

Clemson University has some history!

Outside of Clemson University Auditorium

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November 9, 2014
Winder Cultural Arts Center
Winder, GA

Our second show was at Winder Cultural Arts center. We drove some lovely back roads to get there and really enjoyed seeing the farms, Baptist churches with their inspiring quotes (Get Rich Quick…Count Your Blessings!) and wooden houses with their big front porches. Don Wildsmith and Christopher Childs gave us a super warm welcome with real Southern hospitality. The local press ran a half page story with photos, which is always nice. The auditorium was lovely and had a vintage feel to it. They also do lots of theater there, so the stage was perfect for our Bright Blue Gorilla concert before the film. Christopher, being a filmmaker himself, asked intelligent questions as he led the Q&A, he had done his homework, which made it really inspiring for us. The audience had a great sense of humor and were laughing freely during our music set and super loud during the Go with Le Flo screening. We always watch our films with the audiences and the Winder audience had us laughing out loud, even though we've see our film 100 times! Afterwards they had some great brownies and punch, which made for a cozy atmosphere to mingle with the audience. We had our CDs and DVDs with us and also some French Lavender from the real Le Flo store in Berlin, and many kind audience members took some home.

Winder made a nice Go with Le Flo poster

Go with Le Flo pre-show test

Go with Le Flo pre-show test looking good!

We found it!

Bright Blue Gorilla movies and music storefront at Winder Cultural Center

Bright Blue Gorilla on the wonderful Winder stage

Q & A with Christoper Childs

The wonderful Winder staff

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November 11, 2014
Morris Museum of Art
Augusta, GA

There was a beautiful entry hall at the Morris Museum of Art right next to the screening room, made us feel like we were in a movie, which was the perfect atmosphere for our concert and screening. We set up a table in the screening room with our Bright Blue Gorilla CDs, DVDs and French Lavender from the real Le Flo store in Berlin. Before we even started our show, a super friendly film professor from the local college came up to our table and bought some French Lavender. Nice way to start off the night! He brought a few of his film students. The rest of the audience were locals. The audience sang along during our concert, which made us feel very welcome. One of our songs, “Napoleon’s Coat” is about a guy who works in a museum, so we had fun singing that one! There were around 27 people, all laughing and enjoying Go with Le Flo. They asked great questions and our Le Flo lavender was just about sold out!

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November 13, 2014
Wallace State Community College
Hanceville, AL

Our last concert and screening was at the beautiful brand new auditorium on the campus of Wallace State Community College. It reminded us of the lovely concert halls in Europe. When we walked in we noticed two big Go with Le Flo posters and some really nice fliers. It’s always great when a venue does promo. Kristen Holmes was a great host and made sure we had everything we needed. They had some yummy snacks for the audience and very refreshing lemon water, which hit the spot after our 3 1/2 hour drive. The acoustics were perfect for our unplugged concert. The audience was made up of students and the local community. It was a joy to hear them laughing loudly. One of the students noticed we watched Go with Le Flo with them and she really liked that and found it inspiring. The audience asked great questions as usual and hung out after, made us feel very welcome. They liked that we made family friendly comedies and many hugged us goodbye!