Synopsis: INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND: From the moment of its discovery, Hawaii has been recognized as a stunningly beautiful, almost magical place floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The original Polynesian outrigger canoe voyagers who settled here in this pristine paradise founded a peaceful and agrarian society based on a sustainable system of agriculture. The importance of this connection with the “Aina” (Hawaiian for “land”) and to the growing of Taro is even highlighted in the native language. An interesting fact that the word for “family” in Hawaiian (“O’hana”) is actually a reference to the offshoot that propagates out from the Taro root. Ken Love, a recognized agricultural expert interviewed in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii has this to say in the film: “In the sixties, 90 % of the food consumed in the state of Hawaii was grown here, then in the eighties and nineties it flipped to where 90% was imported. Now with the closer attention and lip-service being given to sustainability, it’s starting to shift slowly, but we’ve got to do more! And, if Hawaii were to be cut off from the mainland right now, any kind of disruption of shipping, we would be out of food in four days!” PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Filmmaker Al Cloutier has long been inspired by the celebration of natural food as a cornerstone of pleasure, culture, and community. Having managed in the restaurant industry for over twenty-five years, he has been impressed by many of the farmers, artisans, chefs, and other culinary industry professionals around the world who are contributing to the Slow Food movement. His vision is to create a documentary that could capture the essence and spirit of sustainable food production. As a long time resident of Hawaii, deeply respectful of native Hawaiian culture and traditional values, he borrows heavily from these to help steer the film in historical context, pointing a return to a more balanced life in harmony with the “Aina”. A return to a natural balance with the Earth, coupled with innovative green technologies that can champion the change vital to our collective prosperity. What makes Lono's Bounty different: Lono’s Bounty has a multi-faceted distribution plan which leverages both new, innovative methods along with traditional routes of sales and release. Educational Use: Inherent in the film project is the educational aspect as we bring this issue to underexposed audiences. A curriculum, Food, Farming and Community will be modified for use with different student audiences in High Schools, Colleges, and in Youth Development programs. The University of Hawaii at Manoa, recently launched an internal competition among its faculty for a $1 million research grant to study the broad topic of sustainability, this will help facilitate the incorporation of the film and curriculum. Screenings: will kick off at Doris Duke Theater in Honolulu. Screenings will also be held at The Hawaii Arts Alliance venue; Art at Mark’s Garage. Additional screenings will be held in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. Grassroots Outreach: Community-based presentations, panel discussions, and forums have already begun and will continue in community centers, agency led development forums, such as The Slow Food Hawaii Convivium , as well as special events, including Earth Day events held all over Hawaii. We are also approaching Jack Johnson’s Kokua Festival event to showcase the film. Unity Church of Honolulu will be hosting a screening event focused on engaging and rallying the Faith community. Independent Distribution: World Class Productions is also a member of the Independent Filmmaker’s Alliance (IFA) and is planning to attend 12th UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION FILM FESTIVAL (UNAFF) October 17-25, 2009 Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, San Francisco and Stanford University Film Festivals: We plan to circulate the movie through various national and international festivals, such as Sundance, LA International, IDFA Amsterdam, HotDocs, Silver Docs, Full Frame, and TrueFalse. DVD Sales: In order to facilitate DVD sales beyond our own Website, we will contract with Ironweed, Amazon Unboxed, and Netflix. Web Sales and Streaming: As part of our alternative distribution plan we will be engaging services that allows users to discover, watch and share independent and world films online such as Jaman, Hulu,Filmbaby,and Cacchi. Social Networking: We will use several social networking sites to drive traffic to our site and promote both the production and distribution of the film. Sites already populated include: Facebook, Linked-in, My Space, Plaxo, and IndieGoGo.