We are husband and wife Ben and Shana, and among other things, we love traveling, we love Thailand, and we love the planet. After numerous trips to Thailand, on which we avoided attending the Full Moon Party as we had heard many horror stories about it’s impact, we finally decided to check it out for ourselves in 2012 and brought our cameras along. We spoke to the organizers, party goers, and concerned residents on Koh Phangan. What started out as what we thought would be a 5 minute video turned into a 25 minute short documentary that took almost 2 years to film and complete. I, Ben, am a musician and filmmaker, and Shana is a psychotherapist and wilderness guide, so we worked on the documentary in our spare time, which unfortunately we don’t have a lot of. However, a passion for sustainable tourism inspired us and we got some financial backing from amazing supporters on Kickstarter.
We could have not made this film without the involvement of Charlie Solares of the Green Cross Beach Clean. He answered all of our questions while we were planning our trip and provided a needed local perspective, as well as access to many of the key players on this island who are involved in the party and clean up.
Filmmaker Yann Le Gallic of YLG Productions also graciously allowed us to use a lot of great footage he shot at the party which helped us fill out the film.
With the unprecedented tourism that is reaching all parts of the globe in this new age lies a great responsibility that is often overlooked. The environment and the cultures we seek to visit and enjoy while traveling are often those which become most exploited.
We hope that this documentary may bring awareness and promote responsible traveling on Koh Phangan and around the globe.
-Ben and Shana
