Dear Friends, Professors, Community Leaders, and Nature Lovers!
We have a go! On Earth Day, April 22, 2013 at 5:30 PM, only one day after Tim DeChristopher’s release from federal prison, we will be screening the film which followed his struggles with the court system to stop the destruction via fracking and drilling of over 150,000 acres of pristine land which belongs to all of us.Â
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We invite YOU to BE THERE through our live feed for Tim’s FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE since his incarceration on July 26, 2011.  The TAT department and CSUMB Outdoor Adventure Club have partnered with Gage & Gage and Gathr Films to be one of the select nationwide simultaneous film screenings with Tim DeChristopher’s appearance streamed live to the event.Â
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EVENT DETAILS
Date: April 22, 2013 (Monday)
Location: TAT building, film screening room  Directions: Building 27, CSUMB, Seaside
Doors Open: 5:15 PM
Introduction and talk by local environmental activist Mayor Bruce Delgado:Â 5:30 PM
Screening Starts Promptly:Â 6 PM
Live Feed Q and A with Tim starts at:Â 7:15 PM
Admission: Free
If you haven’t heard, Tim DeChristopher is bidder number 70, a Utah college student who derailed a widely protested Bush Administration federal oil and gas sale.  Tim bid millions of dollars to save thousands of pristine acres surrounding U.S. National Parks with no intention of paying or drilling. Ultimately, Tim’s act of peaceful civil disobedience permanently saved 77 parcels comprising 150,000 acres of land. For his actions, he was rewarded with two years in federal prison.  Bidder 70 is the story of this principled man and the bravery of his commitment to a liveable world.
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Please join us to celebrate his release, welcome him home, and be inspired by the acts of arguably the most famous environmental activist of our time! Â
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Everyone, no matter where they are watching, will be able to participate: after the film watch and/or send questions via Twitter. Also present during the feed will be Bryan Cahall, musician extraordinaire, who will lead a rendition of the song “Arise” which was featured in the movie. Â
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Trailer:
Film Website
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Sample of Environmental Short to be shown before the film:
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In closing, we need volunteers!
To make this event a success we will need your help!  This is the only screening in the Monterey region, and as such we will need assistance with: contacting local media, flyering, setup, live music, and directing people to the event.  If you are willing and able to assist in any of the above activities please contact me via email and I will send you your volunteer activity and time.  With just a short commitment of your time you can help make this event a huge success and inspiration for future generations!  You can volunteer with friends too 😉  This event will likely be the most inspirational day for environmental activism in modern history, and I am very excited to share this moment with you all!
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If you have any questions regarding extra credit for attendance or any other details please feel free to contact me.
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Very truly yours,
Ty Wheeler
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More details about the film:
The feature-length documentary chronicling how one man’s act of civil disobedience blazed a new trail in the climate justice movement will premiere on Earth Day (4/22/13) in Salt Lake City, UT,where the film’s subject, Tim DeChristopher, will be released from federal prison on April 21 following a two-year sentence. Movie-lovers, including climate activists, around the country will be able to arrange local screenings utilizing Gathr’s proprietary system of TOD bookings and may participate via Skype and Twitter in a Q&A with DeChristopher and filmmakers Beth and George Gage who will be present at the Salt Lake City premiere.Â
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At a time when the debate over climate change is finally gaining post-election “steam,” when hot-button topics such as fracking and the Keystone XL Pipeline have captured the country’s attention, BIDDER 70 is poised to showcase the face and voice of a movement that has been steadily gathering force, particularly among millenials, who have grave concerns over our future as well as our present.
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In 2008, DeChristopher, a University of Utah economics student, disrupted a Bureau of Land Management auction of pristine Utah land surrounding national parks by outbidding other attendees, effectively preserving thousands of acres slated for lease to oil and gas industry giants. Although incoming Interior Secretary Ken Salazar subsequently invalidated the auction, DeChristopher was indicted on two felony counts and, following a lengthy slew of postponements, was sentenced in 2011 to two years in federal prison. While awaiting trial, the 27-year-old environmentalist only stepped up his activism, founding the organization Peaceful Uprising and leading an occupation of the Department of the Interior in Washington, DC. Â His nearly five-year odyssey from a single act of civil disobedience to soon-to-be-freed environmental hero, documented in the Gages’ film, has garnered not only national press attention but also the support of such well-known figures as Nobel prize-winning scientist Terry Root, PhD, and filmmaker Robert Redford, both of whom appear in the film, alongside a number of other high-profile community leaders and activists.
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After Tim DeChristopher raised bidder paddle number 70 and peacefully derailed an unjust federal oil and gas lease auction, his passion, eloquence and morality convinced us that here was a man worthy of a film and a following. – filmmakers Beth and George Gage
Enid Baxter Blader
Chair, Teledramatic Arts
Associate Professor, Cinema Arts and Environmental Studies
Co-Director, Monterey Bay Film Society
California State University Monterey Bay
http://tat.csumb.edu
http://montereybayfilmsociety.
http://enidbaxterblader.com