By Adam Rabiner
With more than seventy films under its belt, the Plow to Plate Film series has curated movies for every taste: from information-loaded documentaries for the scientifically minded to polemical films for social activists. They have been dramatic, funny, informative, and sometimes downright scary. February’s choice is a selection of ten short films - the 2016 winners of the international Real Food Films Contest – an initiative of Real Food Media - an organization that “harnesses media and storytelling to educate, inspire, and grow the movement for sustainable food and farming.” Since its launch by Real Food Media in 2013 the contest has received over 440 submissions from 34 states and 31 countries of which about 70 are featured in their films library. The themes in 2016 were: Taking on Big Soda: Public Policies for Public Health, Building Power with Food Workers, and Tackling Climate Change through Food.
The ten winning films in the third annual contest run for a total of forty minutes - perfect for those with shorter attention spans. A selection like this has advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, when the average length of a short is just four minutes, there’s not much room for plot or character development. But you gain a lot of breadth.
Foodies will enjoy McEwen & Sons True Grits, a snapshot of family farmer Frank McEwen (Mr. Grits) who specialize in stone-ground organic grits (yellow, white, blue, and speckled), cornmeal, and polenta or Farmed with Love (Best Food Producer Profile) about Hou Xueying, a young mother in Shanghai who disregards her parents’ advice to pursue a comfortable life in the big city as an office worker to run an organic farm and learning center in the country. My favorite line from Hou is “only conscious foodies can save the world,” a gratifying declaration from a young eco-farmer in China, a country not particularly known for its strong record in food safety.
Also concerned with this issue, A Sustainable Catch describes the efforts of Thai fishermen to develop sensible rules and safeguards, like the elimination of small mesh nets, to prevent overfishing in order to preserve their livelihood. First Runner Up and winner of Best Cinematography, Naturali Tea makes the point that taste and quality derive from the health of the soil. Mindful Vineyards echoes this sentiment but adds in respect, dignity, and a living wage for farm workers, while Saving Sap (Best Underreported Issue) raises the alarm that global warming is jeopardizing the flow of sap in New England maple trees with potentially dire consequences for the maple syrup industry (if you discount Aunt Jemima).
Beyond the Seal (People’s Choice Award plus Best Student Film - they should have named this Beyond the Peel) is about Equal Exchange fair trade bananas that allow farmers in Ecuador to support their families with a living wage. Everybody Eats (Lens on Hunger Award) illustrates an innovative model of pay-as-you-can community cafes where customers name their own price for a meal or can volunteer to chop vegetables in the kitchen. “Feed all, regardless of means” reads a sign posted on the door of the F.A.R.M. Café in Boone, North Carolina.
The Kelly Street Garden (Best Innovative Initiative) is a portrait of a beloved South Bronx community space in Hunts Point whose combination of cooking and healthy food, yoga and fitness, and art contribute to a more peaceful, self-protective, and harmonious neighborhood. Green Bronx Machine, the one winner from 2014, tells a similar story about how a school-based wall of tomatoes and cucumbers fed 450 students, with some leftover for a local food shelter, and helped them succeed in school.
While many of these films leave you wishing for more, one in particular, the 2016 Grand Prize winner, is perfect for this short format. Spoken word poet Monica Mendoza’s rap-paced Home Flavored is a damning indictment of Coca Cola - “carbonated poison.” Her rapid fire diatribe in English and Spanish shows how junk food purveyors exploit the concept of “home” with little regard to diabetes, obesity, and other devastating impacts on the lives of Latino families in the United States. I’ll leave one of the contest judges with the final word. Home Flavored is a “powerful fusion of slam poetry, documentary, essay, argument and anthropology. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen, and couldn’t wait to hear the next line…It’s the kind of filmmaking that’ll get food issues to a far wider audience.”
With more than seventy films under its belt, the Plow to Plate Film series has curated movies for every taste: from information-loaded documentaries for the scientifically minded to polemical films for social activists. They have been dramatic, funny, informative, and sometimes downright scary. February’s choice is a selection of ten short films - the 2016 winners of the international Real Food Films Contest – an initiative of Real Food Media - an organization that “harnesses media and storytelling to educate, inspire, and grow the movement for sustainable food and farming.” Since its launch by Real Food Media in 2013 the contest has received over 440 submissions from 34 states and 31 countries of which about 70 are featured in their films library. The themes in 2016 were: Taking on Big Soda: Public Policies for Public Health, Building Power with Food Workers, and Tackling Climate Change through Food.
The ten winning films in the third annual contest run for a total of forty minutes - perfect for those with shorter attention spans. A selection like this has advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, when the average length of a short is just four minutes, there’s not much room for plot or character development. But you gain a lot of breadth.
Foodies will enjoy McEwen & Sons True Grits, a snapshot of family farmer Frank McEwen (Mr. Grits) who specialize in stone-ground organic grits (yellow, white, blue, and speckled), cornmeal, and polenta or Farmed with Love (Best Food Producer Profile) about Hou Xueying, a young mother in Shanghai who disregards her parents’ advice to pursue a comfortable life in the big city as an office worker to run an organic farm and learning center in the country. My favorite line from Hou is “only conscious foodies can save the world,” a gratifying declaration from a young eco-farmer in China, a country not particularly known for its strong record in food safety.
Also concerned with this issue, A Sustainable Catch describes the efforts of Thai fishermen to develop sensible rules and safeguards, like the elimination of small mesh nets, to prevent overfishing in order to preserve their livelihood. First Runner Up and winner of Best Cinematography, Naturali Tea makes the point that taste and quality derive from the health of the soil. Mindful Vineyards echoes this sentiment but adds in respect, dignity, and a living wage for farm workers, while Saving Sap (Best Underreported Issue) raises the alarm that global warming is jeopardizing the flow of sap in New England maple trees with potentially dire consequences for the maple syrup industry (if you discount Aunt Jemima).
Beyond the Seal (People’s Choice Award plus Best Student Film - they should have named this Beyond the Peel) is about Equal Exchange fair trade bananas that allow farmers in Ecuador to support their families with a living wage. Everybody Eats (Lens on Hunger Award) illustrates an innovative model of pay-as-you-can community cafes where customers name their own price for a meal or can volunteer to chop vegetables in the kitchen. “Feed all, regardless of means” reads a sign posted on the door of the F.A.R.M. Café in Boone, North Carolina.
The Kelly Street Garden (Best Innovative Initiative) is a portrait of a beloved South Bronx community space in Hunts Point whose combination of cooking and healthy food, yoga and fitness, and art contribute to a more peaceful, self-protective, and harmonious neighborhood. Green Bronx Machine, the one winner from 2014, tells a similar story about how a school-based wall of tomatoes and cucumbers fed 450 students, with some leftover for a local food shelter, and helped them succeed in school.
While many of these films leave you wishing for more, one in particular, the 2016 Grand Prize winner, is perfect for this short format. Spoken word poet Monica Mendoza’s rap-paced Home Flavored is a damning indictment of Coca Cola - “carbonated poison.” Her rapid fire diatribe in English and Spanish shows how junk food purveyors exploit the concept of “home” with little regard to diabetes, obesity, and other devastating impacts on the lives of Latino families in the United States. I’ll leave one of the contest judges with the final word. Home Flavored is a “powerful fusion of slam poetry, documentary, essay, argument and anthropology. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen, and couldn’t wait to hear the next line…It’s the kind of filmmaking that’ll get food issues to a far wider audience.”