For Immediate Release

High Plains Films Set to Release new Feature Documentary, This is Nowhere

VHS copies are available for review by the press.  Digital still images are also 
available.  

Contact:  Doug Hawes-Davis (406) 543-6726 or <dhd@highplainsfilms.org>

Additional information and a short trailer can be viewed on-line at:
http://www.highplainsfilms.org/fp_nowhere.html

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This is Nowhere, a new documentary feature from High Plains Films, will soon be 
released to theatrical, broadcast, educational and home video markets.  The 87 
minute film, which documents the motivations and philosophies of RV travelers 
who camp in Wal-Mart parking lots, was four years in the making.  Montana Public 
Television will be a presenting station when the film is released for broadcast.  
High Plains Films is seeking distribution in all markets.  

Nearly three million Americans live full-time in motor homes, campers and 
trailers.  Millions more spend significant portions of each year wandering 
America in their homes on wheels.  Taking advantage of the modern American 
landscape, tens of thousands of vacation and full-time travelers steer their 
Recreational Vehicles (RVs) into Wal-Mart parking lots each year to "camp" for a 
night or two.  

2001 Montana Individual Artist Fellowship winner, Doug Hawes-Davis, and co-
director John Lilburn set out to document this emerging social phenomenon with 
the idea that this story was bigger than a few wayward tourists with curious 
tastes in camping spots.  The result is a new documentary feature, This is 
Nowhere.  Producer Hawes-Davis explains.  "The inherent contradiction of 
'camping' in a box-store parking lot seemed like the perfect starting place for 
exploring cultural attitudes towards nature, community, and sense of place.  We 
were surprised, however, by how eager our interview subjects were to discuss 
these same themes.  After the very first night of interviews we realized that we 
could tie together many related issues in the same film.  Themes of urban 
sprawl, tourism, and consumerism are accessed by examining RV camping in Wal-
Mart parking lots." 

Lilburn adds, "What we found so compelling is that Wal-Marts are becoming 
important and valuable travel destinations, just as National Parks, museums and 
historic sites are important travel destinations.  It's clear the phenomenon is 
a reflection of ongoing changes in American culture." 

The travelers' rationale for seeking out Wal-Marts as travel destinations 
provides a fascinating portrait of American culture at the dawn of the 21st 
century.  "The travelers we interviewed are not out of the ordinary," says 
filmmaker Hawes-Davis.  "They are representative Americans who share a common 
bond of loving to travel in RVs, and loving Wal-Mart.  Most of them are 
interested in nature, meeting new people, learning about our nation's history, 
or just plain new experiences, but they are also interested in the 
predictability, homogeneity, and sameness that Wal-Mart provides for travel and 
shopping."  

The film features an original soundtrack primarily from Birmingham, Alabama 
musician Ned Mudd, but also includes tracks from Missouri alt-country rockers, 
The Incontinentals and others.   Montana musician, Aaron Parrett, also recorded 
music for the film.  One music reviewer described Mudd's work this way, "Mudd's 
music defies nailing down, as does the artist. If forced to play one style of 
music for more than a few days, he'd give it all up and do something meaningful. 
It's about soul, not style. His music is as much picture as sound."

This is Nowhere is the third feature documentary from High Plains Films, the 
Montana-based non-profit production company, which has released fifteen films 
that document "the relationship between nature and society."  Two earlier 
feature documentaries, Varmints (1998) which has been called "the Schindler's 
List of wildlife documentaries," and Killing Coyote (2000), winner of the John 
Michaels Award at the 23rd Big Muddy Film Festival, have received wide acclaim. 

Full of irony, This is Nowhere humorously captures the essence of American 
attitudes toward nature, equality, liberty and civic values. This is Nowhere was 
financed by the Fund for Wild Nature and Montana Public Television.  

More information about High Plains Films is available on-line at 
www.highplainsfilms.org.

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