MIDDLETOWN – Coyote Film Festival, Lake County’s independent film festival, will kick off the 2009 film season on Saturday, March 21, with films about tea.

The festival's first event of the year will offer two screenings, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., at the Calpine Geothermal Visitors Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown.

The main feature is “All in This Tea” by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht.

Blank and Leibrecht created a multiple award-winning film about tea importer David Lee Hoffman’s travels throughout China – sometimes on foot – in search of handcrafted premium teas.

The directors follow this adventurer as he discovers exquisite teas and attempts to overcome bureaucratic obstacles to buying tea directly from farmers.

China’s emphasis on factory-produced tea treated with chemical fertilizers is endangering the small farmer who has produced organic tea for generations. Hoffman’s goal is to open the Chinese tea market, support the small farmers and make high-quality handmade teas available outside of China.

The film captures Hoffman’s boundless enthusiasm. Guest filmmaker, Gina Leibrecht will attend both screenings and share her adventures with us in making this film.

Two poignant shorts accompany the main feature. “Tea Time” – a film by Jay Bogdanowitsch – depicts a starving soldier who spots a gentleman on the battlefield having tea. Next to the gentleman sits a tea table with a delicious baked goodie. The soldier’s mission becomes: liberate that pastry, until he finds out he’s in for a big surprise. In war, nothing is what it appears to be.

“The Taste of Tea” by Alfonso Chin X is the story of a son who forgives his dying mother for all the years of abandonment by finding and making her a special tea.

The entire program will be approximately two hours, including a question-and-answer session with Leibrecht.

Tickets are $10 at the door and $5 for children 16 and under. Fresh popcorn and concessions also are available.

Coyote Film Festival is a fundraising arm of EcoArts of Lake County, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing visual art opportunities and ecologic stewardship to the residents and visitors of Lake County.

For more information visit: www.EcoArtsofLakeCounty.org.

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