The Many Doors of Life...(and on Nantucket)

An island full of opportunities, I have found Nantucket to be a place where you can launch a career, try something new and just go for it without thinking twice.

The short film, The Ripple Effect, was not programmed into the Nantucket Film Festival.  Sometimes it's just not a good fit (as I recently found out after learning that almost of the short films shown in the program were fiction.)

But when one door closes, so many more always seem to open. 

And those doors that opened?  They swung wide.

A magazine article written by Rob Cocuzzo in the fabulous N Magazine (page 12-13 online)...

A write up by my friend Holly Finigan on her Nantucket blACKbook website under 

Lights Camera ACKtion!

AND...

The film premiered at the Galley Beach on Nantucket Tuesday, June 19th, the day before the Film Festival kicked off! We served Big Tree Farms 

Raw Chocolate Martini's and popcorn as the sun set on the beach. An incredible turnout, we SOLD OUT!!  

Thanks to the support of our incredible local community!!! 

And 

Gene Mahon and MAHON ABOUT TOWN 

for taking such fabulous photo's of the event.

Followed by a gorgeous 10 page 

Spread in the July Issue 

of

ONLY NANTUCKET

the islands newest publication by Anderson Publishing. 

(If you're not on Nantucket, I will be scanning for an online reading soon!)

If you missed the fun-filled premier...

The next showing of the short film, THE RIPPLE EFFECT, will be July 26th at the opening night of the Nantucket Yoga Festival at the Westmoor Club! We're so excited to be a part of the festival!!!

The film is on a roll and building momentum.  Look out soon for the KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN to get me back to Bali to make this film into the feature length documentary it deserves!

LIKE Border Free Productions on Facebook to keep up with the latest info, pictures and new projects!

**To book a private screening for you and your friends,

 please email or call me at kristen@borderfreeproductions.com, 508-524-5589

The Next BIG Thing...

All of my adult life, I have been on target at picking up on trends.  From my days of working in Fashion PR and Marketing New Brands in California to now filming my first documentary, trend-spotting just seems to come naturally. I may not be the one who makes the goods (well actually, I am now technically a producer), but I sure do know when something will be the 

'Next Big Thing'.  

Whether in fashion or food, I know a good thing when I see it.  

And 

BIG TREE FARMS 

is 

going to be just that.  

In the last 4 months, many major publications 

(Associated Press, CNN... the list goes on. and on.) 

have jumped on the Big Tree Farms bandwagon.

And just this week, their Coconut Palm Sugar was featured on Doctor Oz!  

SO. 
The countdown begins...  

18 

(long) days until the submission deadline for the Nantucket Film Festival.  Will the film be finished in time? Will my computer crash (again)?  Will The Big Tree Farms Documentary make the Final Cut?
With so much passion invested in this project,  I only hope I can share this with a vast audience who will appreciate this company and their products just as much as I have over the past year.

These beautiful Balinese artisan products are made with an immense amount of local love.

RAW.ORGANIC.SUSTAINABLE.

So raise your glasses
of CocoHydro and Raw Chocolate Martini's 

to
Big Tree Farms!

Cheers to the next BIG thing.

*Photos Courtesey of Deven Clemens

The 'White Roads' in life...

I took a semi-sabatical for a few days to visit some friends in California and re-charge my batteries.   After making my last minute plans to fly out to San Francisco, 

I had a 'Eureka' moment.

Deven Clemens, who I met in Bali while filming the documentary, worked for White Road Investments, a small investment company owned by the founders of Clif Bar 

and the major investor in Big Tree Farms.  

And I had really been looking forward to getting his interview in Bali, but the timing didn't work out.  Looked like I was about to get a second chance.  I left our hour long meeting at Clif Bar on Thursday with some incredible statements to incorporate into my film.

I also met up with my old roommate, and someone I am truly inspired by, Jose Cong.  He recently left Apple as a Senior Recruiter who worked on the release of the iPhone and iPad for over 7 years, to help launch a new (and very innovative) company called NEST.  Jose has always been more than just a roommate and a friend: a sort of mentor who I've always looked up to.

Thank you for the weekly inspirations, Deven and Jose.   Here's to not playing it safe and to taking the 'White Roads' in life.  Because after all, life is really about the inspiring journeys we take. 

I'm loving all of the positive energy in my life. 

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

TRIALS, TRIBULATIONS, and HELP LINES, Oh my...

After doing quite a bit of research, I went to the APP store and tried to purchase the new Final Cut Pro to edit the film on.  After attempting (unsuccessfully) several times and receiving repetitive error messages, I decided to download the Free Trial in the mean time.

I began importing media files.  After sitting on the vintage wooden chair with soft brown suede cushion for 12.5 hours naming clips, I had the bulk of the footage re-imported and ready to begin piecing it together.  

The new version of Final Cut is like relearning a new editing system, so it took me a little while to adjust, but after just 2 days, I realized it was so much easier using the new one.  I sat day after day coffee (and a glass of Red at night) in one hand and clicking the mouse with the other.  

Just after Christmas, I decided to give the permanent version a go again.  I spent two hours on the phone with iTunes support, and after trying every (what the Apple Care representative thought was) possible option, someone finally made a 'minor adjustment' to my iTunes account, and poof!  It was a miracle.  All of my problems were solved.  I jumped out the chair, arms in the air, and downloaded with joy.

Just like in life, I am learning that patience is key, when it comes to technology.  No need to get frustrated, because even though it may take a little (or a long) time, you'll eventually get to where you want to be.  Sometimes you're looking for an answer to a situation, when all you really needed to do was make the small adjustment.  

It feels so good to be chasing a dream I am so excited about that doesn't feel like work.

Work that feels like play, and on any given day I never want to leave the home office.  I'm not getting paid for my "job" while making this film, but the payoffs will certainly be worth it when I export the final movie (in just 8 weeks!).

From one dream to another, here's to following your own...

**And be on the lookout for some video clips soon!!!

"There's a really strong energy here and it supports this incredibly rich artistic and spiritual culture, and Bali's a place, where if you spend any time here, you learn that there is a lot of dreaming that happens.  A lot of visions, and it's a place where often times those visions and dreams get turned into reality." -Ben Macrory: The Green School, Bali, Indonesia

Leaving ACK to the new MAC

I left Nantucket on Dec. 11th 2011, St. Louis bound for the winter, returning to my roots, where I had spent my childhood and high school years.  After taking a road trip, stopping in Portland, Ogunquit, DC and Louisville, I finally hit home on Dec. 18th.  After 4 days of catching up with family and friends (God I missed them all!) I settled into to my winter home, I was ready to start the rest of the process of making the film.  


For those of you who may not know me personally, this is my first Documentary Film.  I found Big Tree Farms about a year and a half ago while googling Bali, and from that moment I knew this would be my first film.


I visited Bali on my way home from a 4 month stint in Austrailia last in February 14th 2011 for one month, helping with some PR work at the pristine Bali Eco Stay in the mountains for 3 weeks.  Just before I left the island, I was able to meet up with Ben Ripple for about an hour, founder of Big Tree Farms, and chat about food.  But not just any food.  Balinese Pyramid Sea Salt, the worlds first dehydrated coconut water and... raw CHOCOLATE.  

After getting a Ben Ripple's personal tour of the the process of Big Tree Farms first batch of coconut milk chocolate, I had melted away into my own little world.  My taste buds were awakened by more a multitude of flavors and the energy I got from it was incredible.  I left that day with about 30 minutes of video footage and a chocolate high.  


I returned to Nantucket in May and began bartending once again to save up enough for a film budget.  I worked with Dan Driscoll of September Productions on many shoots over the summer and he taught me everything I needed to know to get back to Bali and make this film.  


Six months finally passed, and my hard work paid off.  I purchased two plane tickets to Bali.  One for myself and one for Holly of Sapphire Productions, who I hired to film with me, to go out and make this movie.  I finally met Frederick Shilling, Big Tree Farms co-partner and founder of Dagoba Organic Chocolate.  The energy and passion Ben and Frederick have for their products was profound.  Two and a half weeks later I had a movie yearning to be edited together. 


I returned to Nantucket in late November for one last 4 day bartending hoorah for Stroll Weekend, boxed up my life for the 13th time and headed back to my hometown of Belleville.  I made the investment of purchasing a 21.5 inch MAC for the editing process and it arrived today!!!


And that's where I am now.  On the journey to making this dream of a film become a reality.  I have a lot of hard work ahead of me to make my deadline of March 12th to submit this to the Nantucket Film Festival followed by many others.


From ACK to the MAC, I'm ready to go. 


This is my story and I cannot wait to show you theirs...


**********************************************************************
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN THE BIG TREE FARMS DOCUMENTARY EMAIL LIST PLEASE EMAIL ME AT kellogg.kristen@gmail.com


THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Big Tree Farms Documentary

Welcome to the Blog of the Big Tree Farms Documentary in the making!