Veggie Van greens the Sundance Festival
The Sundance Film Festival, the annual crème de la crème of independent film festivals in Park City, Utah, was a little greener and smelled of French Fries this year, thanks in part to the debut of Fields of Fuel, a documentary about the alternative fuel biodiesel. The film’s creator Josh Tickell and crew descended on Park City this weekend with their Veggie Van, a hippie-style VW run on vegetable oil or animal fat (pictured left), and helped educate people about how biodiesel works and its environmental benefits–all before the Sundance premiere of the film.
(The film features environmentalist-actor Woody Harrelson and Solayzme, a California company that makes biodiesel fuel from algae.)
According to Tickell’s blog, Sunday “afternoon saw a greasy, french-fry-smelling version of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade…Overheard from Park City fans: ‘Look, it’s the Veggie Van! Do you smell that? It’s making me hungry.’”
With deep environmental roots of its own, the festival promotes green practices like recycling and use of Park City walking paths instead of driving. Environmental activist-actor Robert Redford founded Sundance 30 years ago; and last year, he started the cable show The Green on the Sundance Channel. Still, despite the eco zeitgeist in Hollywood and around the world, much of organizers’ efforts might get lost on the wealthy and famous crowd that typically attends Sundance.
Tickell’s crew said that most attendees they talked to were confused about biodiesel. Yet they were enthusiastic about alternative fuels. “Talk of global warming and what people could do personally to make a difference was overheard all over town,” Tickell wrote.