Join the cast and crew of Just Do It at the launch of their crowd funding 20-day campaign. All donations will be matched by Lush (the soap people). Get off your ass and change the world!

Starting at 18:30 and finishing at 20.00, this early evening event will be a great opportunity to quiz the cast and crew behind the film and watch glimpses of the footage whilst raising a glass to their crowd funding success. You will even receive a soapy surprise from their friends at Lush. As well as a celebratory launch this event is a fundraiser, so don't forget your cheque book! And they'd love those who are already familiar with the project to identify someone you know who isn't, but who you think would like to be involved, and to bring them along.

Just Do It is the upcoming feature documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Emily James. Drawing on over 300 hours of observational material, the film will tell the inside story of the UK’s biggest troublemakers. Starting at the G20 in April 2009 and climaxing in Copenhagen, the film follows an ensemble cast drawn from the ranks of Climate Camp, Plane Stupid, and Climate Rush, as they pick up the mantle of civil disobedience and go after climate change with all they’ve got. Their adventures will entertain, illuminate and inspire, whilst inciting you to get off your arse and change the world.

The Just Do It team plan to release the film under a Creative Commons license – a radical departure making it free to watch, free to share. Rather than charging people to watch their film when it’s finished, they are asking people to donate a tiny contribution now, with the funds going directly to production costs. The idea is to gather a small crowd of supporters who donate and enable the film to be seen by millions of others.

As James says, “we want to focus on creating culture-shift with the film, on changing attitudes, rather than on counting box office receipts.”

With broadcasters obsessed with formats and celebrities, and arts funding being slashed, socially important independent films such as this are finding it increasingly tougher to raise finance. Says the director, “this film may not be ‘commercially viable’, but it’s a film that simply needs to be made”. And others seem to agree. Already, a small crowd of over 100 people have
contributed their time to the project, and many more have donated to the production budget.

However, to finish the film, they need to raise some more money, so they are inviting people to join their crowd.

The Challenge - £20K in 20 days:

To encourage participation, for 20 days from 12th October Lush Cosmetics will be matching donations to the film online at www.just-do-it.org.uk pound for pound, up to £10,000. You donate half, Lush donates half.

Why Lush?
Lush released this statement: “We should celebrate, encourage and support those who stand up and fight for a better, more just world. The Just Do It film celebrates activism, celebrates our history of protest and non-violent direct action, and seeks to show activists at work, without the stigmatisation sometimes found in mainstream media and politics. We hope people will support the film as part of their personal protest, their personal activism, and that in doing so we can continue our proud tradition of supporting activism for positive social change.”

Release Details: The film will be in cinemas in the UK in Spring 2011, and available on DVD and for free on-line download shortly after.

Just Do It is a Left Field Films production: Left Field Films is a ten-strong team of media professionals and activists working to finish the edit by the end of this year. The organisation is paving the way for a new viable alternative to commercial production models, opening up the market for truly independent filmmaking.

Lush is the famously fragrant soap manufacturer renowned for its lack of packaging and innovative handmade bath time treats. Lush have supported the three groups featured in the film; Plane Stupid, Climate Rush and Climate Camp through donations from their Charity Pot hand and body lotion and internal carbon tax. www.lush.co.uk

Director Emily James studied documentary directing at the National Film and Television School, where already her student films were winning international awards. Her first broadcast commission, The Luckiest Nut in the World (Channel 4, 2002) led the Guardian to assert “Emily James is a genius… and will in time be revered as a television innovator” The die was cast, and a string of inventive and experimental television productions and films have followed, including her highly subversive series staring a cast of hand puppets (Don’t Worry, Channel 4, 2004) and her involvement as Executive Producer on films such as The Age of Stupid (2009), and What Would Jesus Drive? (2006). www.emily-james.com