http://www.northernstars.ca/News/0709090219_nfb.html

(Note - one error.  We haven't won a Genie for Fierce Light. Yet.) 

FIERCE LIGHT IN EUROPE 

 (July 9, 2009 - Toronto, Ontario) - The National Film Board has announced that Velcrow Ripper's Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action has been picked up for distribution by TAOCinemathek GmbH. The company plans to release a German version of the Genie Award-winning documentary later this year in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Jörg Röttger, vice-president of TAO Cinemathek said, "We are very happy to release a documentary that has the power to build bridges between the often separated communities of spiritual people and social-activism-groups. FierceLight Films producer Cher Hawrysh added, "To have the opportunity to bring the film to German-speaking audiences is evidence of the rise of a global community and embodies what the film is about."

A co-pro between FierceLight Films and the NFB, Fierce Light is a moving and enlightening documentary that explores the reaches of spiritual activism. Velcrow Ripper, who was born in British Columbia, graduated from Concordia University in Montréal and apprenticed at the National Film Board where he pursued his interests in social-issue documentary and experimental film. He traveled to more than 10 countries to shoot the hours of footage that became Fierce Light. The film features some of the most remarkable spiritual activists of our times, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Walker; American Civil Rights Leader, John Lewis; Buddhist peace activist and monk Thich Nhat Hanh; actor-turned-activist, Daryl Hannah; well known Canadian activist Judy Rebick, as well as Van Jones, who was recently appointed Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) by President Obama.

The German deal was negotiated by Christina Rogers for the National Film Board of Canada and Jörg Röttger, vice-president of TAO Cinemathek GmbH.