BY RANDY SHORE (@thegreenmanblog) — THE VANCOUVER SUN
VANCOUVER – B.C. writer, comedian, singer and filmmaker Mark Leiren-Young is a vegetarian on a green streak that has nothing to do with his underpants.
“I’m in shock and kinda verklempt,” said the Gibsons-based media darling.
Leiren-Young is following his first feature length film The Green Chain from theatre to theatre as it opens in real, actual cinemas across Canada. And if that isn’t exciting enough, a short film that he wrote and co-produced, The Green Film, has been selected from among thousands of films to be in Delta Airline’s Fly-In Movies Film Competition.
The short, which includes a musical performance of Green Guilt Blues by Leiren-Young, was selected the Tribeca Film Festival for the contest. Delta passengers will rate the five films on offer and the winner will be screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
Even if you don’t fly Delta, you can help Mark’s case by viewing the films online at www.delta-offers.com/offers/go/flyinmovies and voting for your favourite. (That’s The Green Film, FYI.)
Leiren-Young also got word this week that The Green Film has been nominated for a Slate Award by the California Independent Film Festival for Best Mini Short.
And if that weren’t enough, Leiren-Young’s book Never Shoot a Stampede Queen has received a nomination for the Leacock Medal for humour. Stampede Queen is a hilarious recollection of Leiren-Young’s days as a grass-green community newspaper reporter in Williams Lake.
“I’m having kind of a mind-bending week,” said Leiren-Young. “My head is pretty much spinning off its axis.”
“The Green Chain just opened and is actually doing well in theatres, I’ve been nominated for what I think is the coolest writing award in Canada for my book, my short comedy film – The Green Film – is in the running for a slot in Tribeca and it’s a finalist for a major award,” said a breathless Leiren-Young. “Oh yeah, I’m in the studio finishing off my new comedy CD (Greenpieces) with my musical duo, Local Anxiety.”
“It’s not just a great week, it’s kind of overwhelming,” he said.
Greenpieces should be released within weeks. You can get a taste of Local Anxiety’s schtick on iTunes. I recommend Forgive Us We’re Canadian or I’m White, I’m Straight, I’m Sorry.
With the bases loaded you struck us out with that answer!