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Pigweed Philosopher: The Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson Electronic Press Kit

Pigweed Philosopher
The Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson

Electronic Press Kit

4.28.2008 www.pigweedphilosopher.com 801 | 550 | 4271

Pigweed Philosopher: The Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson Electronic Press Kit

Director’s Statement

A few years ago, a strange and wonderful individual came into my life
by the name of Kimball Johnson. I soon realized I had to document the
life of this obscure man and to reveal to others the transcendence of his
simple genius. It was necessary to capture Kimball’s story before it was
too late and all that remain are the nostalgic anecdotes recounted by
those who knew him: Kimball might well otherwise be forgotten by a
distracted society that has learned to appreciate things only in
hindsight—after the fragile source has already vanished. In many ways
Kimball’s journey is the journey of an everyman, yet his singular and
uncompromising vision required uncommon courage. That is what I set
out to capture, and it made for a humorous, emotional, and poignant
story.

Gabriel Lakey | Director

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Pigweed Philosopher: The Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson Electronic Press Kit

Synopsis

Kimball Johnson is a non-conformist with a heart—and someone

willing to lose everything to tilt at windmills. In the style of esteemed
documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles, director Gabriel Lakey spent
five years following this true American original. Some would call
Kimball Johnson crazy, some would call him foolish, and others might
call him enlightened, but pursuing your passions headlong without a
harness can bear a heavy price. Would you be willing to lose
everything you owned for the feeling of having tried and lost? Is this
pigweed philosopher an unconventional genius who figured out that
life is best lived at the outer fringes or is he just the quintessential Don
Quixote of broken dreams who never found his way home?

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Pigweed Philosopher: The Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson Electronic Press Kit

FILMMAKERS

Gabriel Lakey……………………………. Director

Jeffrey Gold ……………………………. Executive Producer

Gabriel Lakey……………………………. Producer

David Wells ……………………………. Producer

Paul A. Wood……………………………. Associate Producer

Gabriel Lakey……………………………. Director of Photography

Karl Knudsen ……………………………. Second Unit Photography

Gabriel Lakey……………………………. Editor

James LeBrecht …………………………... Sound Editor

James LeBrecht …………………………... Sound Mixer

Vince Lauria ……………………………. Film Composer

Jeffrey Gold ……………………………. Film Composer

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Pigweed Philosopher: The Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson Electronic Press Kit

FILMMAKER BIOS

Gabriel Lakey | Director

Gabriel Lakey is a documentary filmmaker who spent five years filming

Kimball Johnson to create the documentary Pigweed Philosopher: The
Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson (2008). Prior to Pigweed Philosopher,
Gabriel was director of photography and editor of the independent feature
film, Social Suicide (2003) and editor of the independent feature film, The
Racketeers (2003). He received his B.A. in Film Studies from the University
of Utah, where he directed and edited the films Ice Cream Man
(Documentary, 1999), Parched (1999), The Shoemaker (Documentary,
1999), Annie's Diner & Bingo (Documentary, 2000), The Gift (2001), and
Gulls at a Landfill (Experimental Film, 2002). He was an editor of the
independent short film The Devil Bought a Used Car (2002) and director of
videography of the independent film The Hermit (2003).

Jeffrey Gold | Executive Producer

Hailing from an artistic family, Jeffrey Gold works in film, where he wears
many hats simultaneously. His works have premiered at the British Academy
of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Centres in Piccadilly, London and
Cardiff, Wales, on PBS television, on radio, and at international film festivals.
As a producer, he is the Winner of the Fleur de Lis awards for Best
Independent Film and Best Feature Film at the 2003 New Orleans Media
Experience, Winner of the Independent Spirit Award at the 2005 MassBay
International Film Festival, and the Gold Medal of Excellence at the 2004
Park City Film Music Festival. He was an executive producer of the
independent feature film Summer Solstice, based on his story Atlantic
Summer, starring Karen Black, Joe Estevez, and Jenell Slack. He was a
producer on the award-winning independent film, Abby Singer. He is
currently working on a number of screenplays, including Anthem for Water.
He was a finalist in the 2006 Sundance Institute/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
screenwriting fellowship. In 2004, Jeffrey Gold was invited to participate in
the 19th Annual Sundance Institute Independent Producer’s Conference as
well as the 3rd Annual Sundance Institute/Mercer Foundation Masterclass.

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Pigweed Philosopher: The Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson Electronic Press Kit

After attending Cambridge University, where he executive produced the

documentary Children of the Wind, as a lifetime member of the Cambridge
Film and Television Society, he was accepted to the prestigious London
International Film School in 1997. Other film works include the narrative
The Wallet and the documentaries Twilight (Physics In The Twilight), Fade
To Reality, Isles In The Midst Of The Great Green Sea, and Cognoscenti: The
Admirable Life Of Eli Khamarov.

As a playwright, Jeffrey Gold has been a member the Playwright's Group

since 2001, through the auspices of the Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC)
under dramaturg Mike Dorrell (BBC's Soldier, Soldier, Pictures of a Floating
World) and playwright-in-residence Julie Jensen (Two-Headed, Last Lists of
My Mad Mother, Wait!). He has had a public reading of the play-in-progress
In The Pursuit Of Svetla and a public reading at the American Express/Salt
Lake Acting Company New Play Sounding Series of the absurdist comedy
Horst and Graben in the Context Of The Unfinished Man. Horst and Graben
was also read at the 2002 Sawtooth Writers Conference founded by David
Kranes (Sundance Theater Lab) and playwright/essayist Jeff Metcalf (Where
To?). Horst And Graben was a winner of the 2002 CrossCurrents Cultural
Five and Dime Playwriting Competition and was produced at the Just Off
Broadway Theater in Kansas City, Missouri in 2003. It was also selected for
the 2003 Boca Raton Theatre Guild Short Play Reading Festival and was a
finalist in the Ten by Ten in the Triangle, North Carolina. It also won and has
been selected for production in the Shorts in Winter Playwriting Festival at
the Theatre Orange, North Carolina in February 2004. The comedic
tragedietta, Fitch Todd, was read and extremely well received at the Salt
Lake Acting Company on December 15, 2002. It went on to win the 2004
New Voices/New Words Playwriting Competition and was read on January
21, 2005 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It also received a reading at the City
Art Evening of Short Plays on February 16, 2005, won the Seahorse Award at
the 2005 Moondance International Film Festival stageplay competition, and
then was a winner in the 2006 Silver Spring One Act Festival in Maryland.
He has recently finished the plays Dedekind, Horst and Graben at the
Chateau Godot, and Candycane Hurricane. Dedekind recently won the
Experiments In Ink V Playwriting Competition and was produced in February
2004 at the University of Utah's Department of Theatre. His one act play,
Execution at Paradais Island was a finalist in the stageplay competition of the
2004 Moondance International Film festival. His play Percolation Theory
was a Finalist in the 2005 Theatre Publicus Prize for Dramatic Literature. He
is currently working on other short and long form plays including

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Pigweed Philosopher: The Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson Electronic Press Kit

Waisenhaus, The Unexpected Autobiography Of Spressa Perlesi, The

Tyranny Of The Lucky, and Parker's Peace. He won the 2005 Best of State
Medal for Playwriting/Screenwriting, the 2006 Best of State Medal for
Playwriting, and the 2007 Best of State Medal for Playwriting.

Vince Lauria | Film Composer

As a guitar virtuoso, Vince Lauria has numerous instructional textbooks to his

name, and has served as an instructor at the Grove School of Music, and as a
technical adviser to Guitar World Magazine. As a composer, Vince Lauria
has collaborated with notable artists such as Denny Laine (The Moody Blues,
Wings), Hall of Fame recording artist Dave Marks (The Beach Boys), film
composer and Academy Award nominee John Debney, TV/film composer
Dan Ferguson, Emmy award winner Jimmy Danelli, actor Mark McClure
(Apollo 13, Superman, Back to the Future), Academy Award winner Timothy
Hutton, and Jazz great, Ritchie Cole.

He composed and performed the Clio Award-winning melody for the Made
In The Shade jeans commercial, working with Len Kovner at Davlen Sound
Studios (1978-1982). He recently scored music for director and producer
Don Barnhart (Saved by the Bell, Benson) on a TV pilot starring Daniel
Baldwin and Terasa Livingstone. Vince Lauria is Winner of the Gold Medal
for Best Impact of Music in a Documentary (Audience Favorite) at the 2008
Park City Film Music Festival for the feature-length documentary, Man of a
Thousand Faces, executive produced by actor James Hong (Chinatown,
Blade Runner).

Jeffrey Gold | Film Composer

Working as a film composer, Jeffrey Gold’s scores appear in many

independent films and documentaries, including Twilight (Physics In The
Twilight), Isles In The Midst Of The Great Green Sea, Monk, Children of the
Wind, Reach, Edge Running, The Racketeers, and, most recently, in Ken
Verdoia's PBS documentary, Promontory. He was the composer and an
associate producer of the awards-winning independent feature film Abby
Singer. The score won the Jury Choice Gold Medal for Excellence in the
2004 Park City Film Music Festival and was a semi-finalist in the filmscoring
competition of the 2004 Moondance International Film Festival. His Elegy:
Adagio For Strings has been lauded internationally and was featured in the

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Pigweed Philosopher: The Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson Electronic Press Kit

book MP3: Music on the Internet by Rod Underhill and Nat Gertler, part of
The Complete Idiot's Guide series. He won the 2006 Best of State Award for
Best Original Composition for his film scores. Jeffrey is a member of the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

James LeBrecht | Sound Designer & Sound Mixer

James LeBrecht is an award-winning sound designer, working in film, games,

exhibitions, and theater. At the Saul Zaentz Film Center he has supervised or
edited sound for feature films and documentary projects that include
Daughter from Danang, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Brother Outsider,
Discovering Dominga, The Skulls, Swimfan, The Singing Detective and The
Cockettes, and the late Anthony Minghella’s Mr. Wonderful.

James has designed and produced sound effects and music for over 100
professional theatrical productions and co-authored the book “Sound and
Music for the Theatre: The Art and Technique of Design” with Deena Kaye.
Mr. LeBrecht is the president of Berkeley Sound Artists, a full-service audio
post-production company.

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Pigweed Philosopher: The Untethered Zen of Kimball Johnson Electronic Press Kit

CONTACTS

PRODUCTION

Jeffrey Gold | Executive Producer

Corpus Polymedia
1160 East Bryan Ave.
Salt Lake City
Utah 84105-2508

801 | 550 | 4271

jgold@pigweedphilosopher.com

PUBLICITY

Paul A. Wood | Publicist

indivisiblePR

801 | 440 | 4268

press@indivisiblepr.com

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