The Producers' Blog
Notes from the road, updates about the Cape Wind project, upcoming event promos, and other missives. Navigate by topic via the list on the right. And if you're already a fan, get your sweet Cape Spin swag here!
Announcing the World Premiere of Cape Spin! in Boston, June 15
May 17th, 2012 by Daniel Coffin
That’s right, after five years of production and an international festival run Cape Spin! is now slated for US Theatrical Release. The definitive account of the Cape Wind controversy, Cape Spin! tells the surreal, fascinating, tragicomic story of the battle over Cape Wind, America’s first proposed offshore windfarm, and what would be the largest in the world.
The film has been booked to theaters in Boston, Washington, D.C., Cape Cod and beyond, and we continue to field offers across the US and Europe. We’ll be announcing details of our Boston Premiere, slated for June 15. More details to follow…
If you are a member of the press or even just a curious fan, we’ve also just released our Electronic Press Kit for download. Please direct any inquiries to info@rebirthproductions.net.
Posted in Cape Spin News, Main Event Page, Top Story
Cape Spin! Coming Soon to Theaters
May 8th, 2012 by Daniel Coffin
Just dropping a note to let everyone know that we will be announcing the summer rollout very shortly, so stay tuned. Feel free to contact us at info@rebirthproductions.net if you’re looking to set up a screening or get Cape Spin! into your favorite local theater.
Posted in Cape Spin News, Top Story
On To Cleveland!
March 11th, 2012 by Daniel Coffin
Cape Spin! will make its Great Lakes premiere as an official selection of the Cleveland International Film Festival. With turbines of their own now proposed, it behooves the citizenry of Cleveland and beyond to see all that goes in to developing such large-scale renewable energy projects, like the Cape Wind project. There be three screenings, March 29-31, event links below…
Day 1: The Great Lakes Premiere
Day 2: Complete with a Forum afterwards
Day 3: Closing out the Festival
Check out the Cleveland Int’l Film Festival website for more info.
Posted in Cape Spin News, Main Event Page, Top Story
Dispatch from the front lines of America’s Energy Wars
February 16th, 2012 by Daniel Coffin
[Press Release]
DEVELOPER CLAIMS MAJOR VICTORY IN BATTLE OVER AMERICA’S FIRST OFFSHORE WINDFARM!
But the War isn’t Over, Vow Opponents
Under pressure from Governor Deval Patrick, energy utility NSTAR agreed yesterday to buy a hefty slice of Cape Wind’s power, a crucial development if CEO Jim Gordon is to secure financing for his 130 turbine facility off the coast of Cape Cod. Reports suggest thar Gov. Patrick made state approval of a merger between NSTAR and Northeast Utilities conditional on NSTAR’s promise to purchase 27.5% of Cape Wind’s electricity, which has opponents crying foul and planning further legal action. The war over Cape Wind has raged for ten plus years, and there’s no sign of peace on the horizon. In the midst of all the action, Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle, the epic documentary embedded with all sides of this madcap civil war, begins its nationwide tour.
Starting at the Boulder International Film Festival on February 19th, we advance to the D.C. Environmental Film Festival on March 15th, and then decamp for The Cleveland International Film Festival on March 29th, with more fests to come. Catch us on the circuit or at our theatrical premieres in New York, Boston and D.C. early this summer.
Keep it right here for more late-breaking news from the front lines of America’s wackiest wind war, and the fascinating, surreal, tragic-comic movie that explains it all:
Yours,
The Producers
Watch the Trailer
www.facebook.com/capespin
www.twitter.com/capewind
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Boulder Film Festival
February 19, 12:30pm
Tickets
DC Environmental Film Festival
March 15, 6:30pm
Tickets at Door
Cleveland International Film Festival
March 29-31
Times to be Announced
Posted in Cape Spin News, Cape Wind Developments, Top Story
Cape Spin Swag is Here!
December 13th, 2011 by Daniel Coffin
Just in time for the holidays, make your purchases in the next couple days and you should have it in time for Christmas. Featuring an elegant WindPeace button, a slick T-shirt or a Cape Spin trucker hat, you can look good while doing good! A little bit of every purchase goes toward our publicity funding.
Check out the gear here: Cape Spin Swag!
Posted in Cape Spin News, Top Story
The Cape Spin Team does IDFA
December 1st, 2011 by Daniel Coffin
Firstly, I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the folks who helped send us to Amsterdam via our Indiegogo fundraiser. Without your support we wouldn’t have had such a successful ground game and wouldn’t be entertaining several of the offers now on the table. THANK YOU!
With that out of the way, IDFA was quite the festival! All told, there were 364 films, some 3,000 filmmakers, buyers, festival programmers and guests, accompanied by incredibly supportive Dutch audiences, all buzzing to keep the silver screens and parties going day and night for ten days straight.
We showed up in Amsterdam armed with flyers, buttons and a small electric powered boat to croon our prospective buyers in. You can imagine we had fun:
Our international premiere was a hit, playing to a raucous sold out crowd in the Pathe Munt theater, followed by a Q & A with Robbie and John. The Dutch audiences loved the humor and gave us warm compliments post-screening. Better yet, early in the festival, Cape Spin was in the top ten most watched films in the Docs For Sale…one of the main attractions of IDFA.
Now that the festival is over, we move on, seeking new territory and new audiences. We’re planning to launch a booking page for folks to get their communities signed up for screenings, so stay tuned. If you’ve got some time to kill, take a close look at our post card below. If you’ve been following the Cape Wind story, there’s likely some characters you’ll recognize! If you need some hints, email us and I’ll send you the guide.
Posted in Cape Spin News, Top Story
Trying to Keep up with Cape Wind?
October 20th, 2011 by Daniel Coffin
One of the “stars” of our film, Sean Corcoran of NPR, has been diligently following the Cape Wind story for all of us, and I encourage you to check out his WCAI blog dedicated to Cape Wind happenings. His most recent post rehashes some of the details of the slowly unwinding financing drama that has been hitting bylines for the last three months.
The new news is that Cape Wind Communications Director, Mark Rodgers, says that they don’t plan to break ground/water until at least next year, which makes sense considering they’ve only got two months left in 2011 and only half the power sold. While this part of Cape Wind’s ten year drama doesn’t get much attention in Cape Spin, it’s an important story with big implications for the fledgling industry.
Did I mention that we’re going to IDFA in Amsterdam!? (we’re very excited).
Posted in Cape Wind Developments, Top Story
Cape Spin Invited to IDFA in Amsterdam
October 19th, 2011 by Daniel Coffin
We’re proud and elated to announce that Cape Spin has been invited to the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam coming up at the end of November. IDFA is recognized internationally as one of the premier marketplace festivals for documentaries – read all about it. We’ll be part of the Green Screen competition and going up against some fine films, some of which we caught at the Woodstock Film Festival last month.
No dates have been announced, but here’s the official program for the Green Screen competition. Hope to see you there!
Posted in Cape Spin News, Top Story
A Thoughtful Write-up from Woodstock
October 10th, 2011 by Daniel Coffin
Paul McGinniss, author of the New York Green Advocate blog, attended one of our screenings at the Woodstock Film Festival and sums up here: http://thenewyorkgreenadvocate.blogspot.com/2011/09/woodstock-film-festival-premier-of-cape.html
Thanks for the kind words, Paul. For those following closely, there will be a big announcement coming soon about our next stop on the festival circuit.
Posted in Cape Spin News, Top Story
Martha’s Vineyard Recap
August 11th, 2011 by Daniel Coffin
In case you missed it, our sneak peek on the Vineyard was quite an event. I arrived on the island Tuesday morning, and we were set up at a fine spot called the Point Way Inn thanks to the folks from the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society and the Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival. Despite the wonderful scenery and accommodations, I found it hard to relax. As is the case whenever you start putting your work out there, our nerves were tight, and I was stuck in a loop praying the sound in the theater would be good. By the time of the screening at 8pm, I had managed to convince myself that everyone was going to love – or at least enjoy – the film. I can assure you that the Union Chapel is a great place to catch a film, and the sound was not a problem.
Pre-screening tech check. Sound looks good!
There were, however, several other disturbances that were not predictable. Have you ever been rained on while watching a movie before? Well, our gracious attendees have. About halfway into the film, a microburst (or perhaps just a small thunderstorm), descended on the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs, and, due to a strong wind from a couple weeks prior, the two windows at the top of the steeple were stuck wide open.
Heavy winds and a soft mist, growing to a light rain, cooled our guests off for about five minutes as lightning and thunder cracked outside. At one point everyone had evacuated their seats in the middle of the chapel and were standing around the edges intently watching the film. I’m not sure, but I think the confusion during that section of the film may have helped fuel the second disruption which took place during the post-screening discussion.
If you’re familiar with the Cape Wind saga, you know that tensions, invective and strong opinions are abounding. We’ve had no luck avoiding it ourselves, and because our goal with the film is to be objective and make the best case for both sides, we knew that we would ruffle some feathers, (and if done correctly, feathers on both sides). The first speaker was Audra Parker, head of the opposition group, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. She was not too pleased with our portrayal. I’d also note that after the screening, the two employees of Cape Wind who attended voiced their own concerns over our editorial choices, so the score was more even than it may have appeared. I won’t go into detail, but you can read several journalists’ perspectives at NPR, Vineyard Gazette and Vineyard Times. While we did receive many warm compliments, especially after the panel was over, the general gist of the criticism was about perspective. Virtually every issue about the Cape Wind controversy gets air time in our film, but our goal was never to resolve those issues. They have been fought over in court, in the public dialogue, and in the bureaucracy of the local, state and federal governments. Many of the issues in fact will never be resolved.
Our goal with the film is to document the process, to show how a battle like Cape Wind is fought, in the trenches, in the planning rooms of the organized combatants, through the often-muddied lens of the press. The film raises more questions than it answers, it elicits visceral reactions, it incites debate, and, hopefully, it heightens dialogue. Be sure to stay tuned as we continue to book sneak peeks and premiere next year. And if you’re interested, we are accepting requests for this circus to come to your town next summer.
Posted in Cape Spin News, Notes from the Field, Top Story
