Red fish alert! Guppies hit the slopes to help promote 'End of The Line' © Greenpeace / Mackenzie.
Update: guppies go skiing - watch the video »
Park City during Sundance is crazy busy. The Main Street, hotels, and carparks are all chockablock, and everyone has a film to sell or see. So, clearly we needed something to attract a bit of attention and make obvious Greenpeace's support for the End Of The Line film. If you've read my previous posts, you'll be aware that part of the solution (after some complicated logistics) involved five Greenpeace US volunteers plus two red fish suits from Greenpeace Netherlands (thank you guys!).
My hunch that two huge, round, red, fluffy fish wandering the streets would be pretty eye-catching thankfully proved to be accurate. Our teams of volunteers alternated between being fish, and engaging with curious members of the Sundance public who wanted to know what's going on.
"Why's he sad?" was the most common starter question. And a very easy one to answer – he's sad because his friends are being overfished.
The red fish (as well as bearing a passing resemblance to orange roughies) are designed for the Greenpeace's consumer work in the Netherlands, drawing attention to fish on the 'red list' – the ones you should really try and avoid. Red's a natural warning colour – and in wintry Park City, our fish certainly stood out.
And, despite being fish very far out of water, they got about a bit too! As well as attending the premiere of our movie, the fish were at some other theatres too. They were passed by several celebrities we recognised, and several (who were being chased by paparazzi) that we didn't. They posed for photos on the red carpet too, and everyone seemed to want to cheer them up with a hug for the camera.
They even tried skiing, taking to the gentler slopes at nearby Deer Valley Resort, and attracting a lot of attention from bemused skiers. They've even been blogged about in the New York Times.
The one thing we can be sure of, is that everyone in Park City knew about the fish, and on several occasions when they crossed Main Street, they did quite literally stop traffic.
Yes, this all seems frivolous, but there's a serious point of course. We want people to hear about and see the End Of The Line, and we want people to start caring about fish too, whether they eat them, or just hug them in the street.
If you haven't already checked out the trailer online, you should. You can sneak a peek at www.endoftheline.com. Highly recommended. I would say that of course, but it happens to be true...
