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July Tallgrass Third Thursday Film Examines Energy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2009

Wichita Association for the Motion Picture Arts (WAMPA) and the Tallgrass Film Festival will presents the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Best Documentary Audience Award winner, Fuel, as the Tallgrass Third Thursday selection for July. The film investigates the possible replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy. It will screen at 7 p.m., July 16 at the Warren East Theatre (11611 E. 13th St.). Tickets for the screening are $9 general admission and $8 for students and seniors. The film will be followed by a panel discussion and director Josh Tickell, who will be in attendance.

Fuel is an insightful portrait of America’s addiction to oil and an uplifting testament to the immediacy of new energy solutions. Tickell, a young activist and recently appointed U.N. Goodwill Ambassador, shuttles us on a whirlwind journey to track the rising domination of the petrochemical industry — from Rockefeller’s strategy to halt Ford’s first ethanol cars to Vice President Cheney's petrochemical company sponsored energy legislation — and reveals a gamut of available solutions to "repower America" — from vertical farms that occupy skyscrapers to algae facilities that turn wastewater into fuel. Tickell and a surprising array of environmentalists, policy makers, and entertainment notables take us through America’s complicated, often ignominious energy past and illuminate a hopeful, achievable future, where decentralized, sustainable living is not only possible, it’s imperative.

The film includes appearances by notables and celebrities including Richard Branson, Sheryl Crow, Larry David, Larry Hagman, Woody Harrelson, Robert Kennedy Jr, Willie Nelson, Julia Roberts and Neil Young (who recently had a 1959 Lincoln Continental retrofitted to run as an electric vehicle right here in Wichita). Besides the Sundance award, the film has garnered numerous other awards at Film Festivals during the past year.