Food & Farming
La Via Campesina
Sat 12:00 pm Theatre 2
20 minutes 2010
This short film documents the international peasant’s movement La Via Campesina and its struggle for peasant’s agriculture and food sovereignty all around the world. Made up of 150 organizations in 70 countries and with more than 200 million members, the movement brings together millions of peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants, and agricultural workers from around the world.It defends small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity.
La Via Campesina strongly opposes corporate driven agriculture and transnational companies that are destroying people and nature.
viacampesina.org
The Chocolate Farmer
Sat 12:20 pm Theatre 2
52 minutes 2010
Director: Rohan Fernando
“Without the land, we will cease to exist.”
In an unspoiled corner of southern Belize, cacao farmer and father Eladio Pop manually works his plantation in the tradition of his Mayan ancestors: as a steward of the land. A tender and moving family tale, director Rohan Fernando’s lush cinematic journey intimately captures a year in the life of the Pop family as they struggle to preserve their values in a world that is suddenly and dramatically changing.
Worldscreen.com says The Chocolate Farmer “bears intimate witness to one man confronting the forces of globalization.” A lament for cultures lost, this timely and vital film challenges our deeply held assumptions of progress.
nfb.ca
Saving the Seed
Saving the SeedSat 1:15 pm Theatre 2
20 minutes 2011
Filmmakers: Scott Turner and Claire Kane Boychuk
Besides a brief cry of indignation from world leaders during the coup d’état of July 2009, for decades Honduras has rarely made the news. But around the globe there is renewed interest in food security and, as the planet heats up, this small republic in Central America offers a rare lesson in resilience.
Saving the Seed presents an intimate portrait of a dedicated team of farmers- scientists in the hillsides of Honduras who are on the frontlines of climate change research and adaptation. In a country still dominated by big, cash-crop plantations, the film gives us unique access to the personal stories and daily lives of farmers succeeding on marginal lands. Most importantly, it documents a new approach to rural development that is putting the right to self-determination back in the hands of farm families. Whether it’s corn, beans, or rice, the secret to a strong food system is simple: saving the seed.
savingtheseed.org
Permaculture:The Growing Edge
Sat 1:35 pm Theatre 2
45 minutes 2010
Filmmakers: Donna Read & Starhawk
Permaculture: The Growing Edge is an antidote to environmental despair, a hopeful and practical look at a path to a viable, flourishing future. The film introduces us to inspiring projects; visiting David Holmgren’s homestead, sheet mulching an inner-city garden, transforming an intersection into a gathering place with City Repair, and joining mycologist Paul Stamets as he uses mushrooms to clean up an oil spill.
We meet some of the key figures in the permaculture movement including Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren who started this movement in the 1970s. The film gives us a glimpse into this worldwide network of skilled ecological designers, teachers, food growers, natural builders, environmental activists, and visionaries.
belili.org
A Chemical Reaction
Sat 2:45 pm Theatre 2
77 minutes 2009
Director: Paul Tukey
A Chemical Reaction tells the story of one of the most powerful and effective community initiatives in the history of North America. It started with one lone voice in 1984. Dermatologist Dr. June Irwin noticed a connection between her patients’ health conditions and their exposure to chemical pesticides and herbicides. With relentless persistence, she brought her concerns to town meetings to warn her fellow citizens that the chemicals they were putting on their lawns posed severe health risks. Dr. Irwin’s persuasive arguments and data to back her findings eventually led the town of Hudson, Quebec to enact a by-law that banned the use of all chemical pesticides and herbicides.
The mighty chemical companies mounted a legal challenge to the town and eventually the case made it to the Supreme Court of Canada. The town’s right to protect its citizens was upheld, and other municipalities followed suit. This is an inspiring film about citizen activism.
safelawns.org
Urban Roots
Sat 4:30 pm Theatre 2
93 min. 2011
Director: Mark McInnis
The industrial powerhouse of a lost American era has died, and the skeleton left behind is present-day Detroit. Now, against all odds, in the empty lots, in the old factory yards, and in between the sagging blocks of company housing, seeds of change are taking root. A small group of dedicated citizens, allied with environmental and academic groups, have started an urban environmental movement with the potential to transform, not just a city after its collapse, but also a country after the end of its industrial age.
Urban Roots is the inspiring story of a group of dedicated Detroiters working tirelessly to fulfill their vision for locally grown, sustainably farmed food in a city where people have found themselves cut off from real food and limited to the lifeless offerings of fast food chains, mini-marts, and grocery stores stocked with processed food from thousands of miles away.
treemedia.com
This program is sponsored by Village Vancouver and Slow Food Vancouver.
Comments are closed.