SYNOPSIS All In This Tea USA, 2007, 70 mins, English, DVD Documentary Director/Producer: Les Blank, Gina Leibrecht Camera: Les Blank,Tom Valens All In This Tea takes us into the world of tea by following world-renowned tea expert David Lee Hoffman to some of the most remote regions of China in search of the best handmade teas in the world. Hoffman is obsessed; during his youth, he spent four years with Tibetan monks in Nepal, which included a friendship with the Dalai Lama, and was introduced to some of the finest tea—that golden nectar with which we can taste the distant past. Unable to find anything but insipid tea bags in the U.S., Hoffman began traveling to China to find tea for himself. In the process, he discovered the rarity of good, handmade tea, even in China, where the ancient craft of making tea has given way to mass production. This craft cannot be learned from a book, but has been handed down through generations of tea makers for thousands of years. IImages of the farmers standing streetside, selling a week’s harvest for three dollars, in the shadow of China’s increasing number of high rises illustrate the paradox that stepping into the modern world imposes. But, Hoffman is even a step ahead of his own country in that he is advocating “fair trade” and organics. Despite Hoffman’s at times argumentative and condescending manner, we become increasingly empathetic to him; he is only one small voice against a vast and complex machine. As his first film shot digitally, Les Blank was a one-man crew who blended in with the environment, taking his famous fly-on-the-wall approach even further. A handheld camera provides an unpolished intimacy with the farmers’ faces and their tea-stained hands. The film moves from a modern, urban setting to a pastoral China rarely glimpsed by westerners. Scenes shot in cinema verité are interwoven with more formal presentations about the fundamentals of tea, including a brief history lesson. This helps make clear what is at stake, and thereby lends weight to Hoffman’s endeavor. It is hoped that the viewer will feel as if they have been somewhere they’ve never been before, and ask themselves what is out there that is worth preserving. Les Blank (Co-producer, Co-director, Camera) has made numerous documentary films since 1960, including Burden of Dreams (1982), Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists, and Gap-Toothed Women (1987). Chulas Fronteras (1976) and Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980) have been selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress National Film Registry. Retrospectives of his films have taken place at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. In 1990, Blank received the American Film Institute’s Maya Deren Award for outstanding lifetime achievement, and in 2007 he was the 48th recipient of the Edward MacDowell Medal for outstanding contributions to the field. Gina Leibrecht (Co-producer, Co-director, Editor) is a freelance documentary editor and filmmaker in San Francisco. She edited Frank Green’s Counting Sheep, which won a Northern California Emmy Award for Best Documentary in 2006. She co-edited Karina Epperlein’s Phoenix Dance, which won San Francisco International Film Festival’s Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary Short in 2006. Her work has screened on public television and in festivals around the world. In 1998 she began collaborating with Les Blank on several films, including All In This Tea and The Maestro Rides Again! They are currently working on Ricky Leacock: Being There, about the co-founder of Direct Cinema, Ricky Leacock, and Butch Anthony (working title), about the Alabama folk artist. Visit www.ginaleibrecht.com for more info. Tom Valens (Additional Camera) is a Bay Area freelance video editor, cameraman, and independent documentary film maker. As editor, his films have won local and national Emmy's as well as an Academy Award nomination. As cameraman, he has traveled from China All in This Tea, Leaf and Water to Finland Race Day. Recent documentary films include Nuclear Deception for Helen Caldicott's NPRI. He is currently working on a long form documentary about an elementary school classroom. Les Blank Flower Films 10341 San Pablo Avenue El Cerrito, CA 94530