Past Events

​The Plow to Plate film series is dedicated to bringing informative, engaging films to both the Park Slope Food Coop Community and the wider community.
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All events are free and open to the public! Scroll down to see past films.
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Feb 2025: Beyond Impossible: The Truth Behind the Fake Meat Industry​
Jan 2025: Fed A Lie: The Truth About Seed Oils
December 2024: Fasting: The Healer Within
​November 2024: The Kitchenistas
October 2024: The Invisible Extinction
September 2024: Pet Fooled
July 2024: Sustainable
June 2024 The Biggest Little Farm
May 2024: The Magic Pill
​April 2024: Nitrogen 2000: The Dutch Farmers’ Struggle​
March 2024: Pure Plant Nation
February 2024: From Food to Freedom
​December 2023: Storm Lake
November 2023: Urban Farmers
​October 2023:Kiss the Ground
​September 2023: Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven
July 2023: American Meat
June 2023: A Matter of Taste
May 2023: More Than Honey
April 2023: Sweet Dreams
​March 2023: Obesity and Global Greed
February 2023: Bisonhead & Our National Mammal
January 2023: This Organic Life - Hawthorne Valley Farm
December 2022: When Tomatoes Met Wagner 
November 2022: Our Food Chain
October 2022: Recipe for Change: Amplifying Black Women
September 2022: The Pollinators
March 2020: Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds
February 2020: Wasted: The Story of Food Waste
January 2020: Symphony of the Soil
December 2019: A Prayer for Compassion
November 2019: Los Lecheros
October 2019: A Prayer for Compassion (re-scheduled)
September 2019: Steak (R)evolution
August 2019: No screening
July 2019: One Man, One Cow, One Planet
June 2019: The Birth of Sake
May 2019: 42 Grams – An Intimate Portrait of a Complicated Chef
April 2019: The Goddesses of Food
March 2019: Julia! America’s Favorite Chef
February 2019: Food Coop – A Documentary about the Park Slope Food Coop
January 2019: BUGS
December 2018: Under Contract, Farmers and the Fine Print
November 2018: H.O.P.E. What You Eat Matters
October 2018: Chef Flynn
September 2018: Kings of Pastry
July 2018: Knife Skills
June 2018: Food, Family & Farms: Growing the Next Generation – Shorts Selection
May 2018: Rotten, Episode 2: The Peanut Problem
April 2018: Hot Grease
March 2018: The Apple Pushers
February 2018: Real Food Films Top 10
January 2018: Wild Plants
December 2017: Fish on my Plate
November 2017: Fish Tail (Rabo de Peixe)
October 2017: Juliette of the Herbs
September 2017: Fresh
August 2017: Portrait of a Garden
July 2017: El Remolino
June 2017: Super Size Me
May 2017: Soul Food Junkies
December 2016: Food For Thought
November 2016: Kombit
October 2016: Symphony of the Soil
September 2016: All In This Tea
July 2016: The End Of The Line
June 2016: Vegucated
May 2016: Eat: The Story of Food
April 2016: King Georges
March 2016: Food Chains
February 2016: Sustainable Table
January 2016: Sushi: The Global Catch
December 2015: Carb Loaded
November 2015: Growing Change
October 2015: Weight of the Nation Part IV – Challenges
September 2015: Seeds of Time
August 2015: (no film)
July 2015: Weight of the Nation: Children in Crisis
June 2015: Salmon Confidential
May 2015: Grazers
April 2015:The Future Of Food
March 2015: Seeds of Death
February 2015: Open Sesame
January 2015: Genetic Roulette: The Gamble of our Lives
December 2014: Food Design
November 2014: OMG GMO
July 2014: Nothing Like Chocolate
June 2014: Ted Talks Food
May 2014: Brooklyn Farmer
April 2014: Brewed In Brooklyn
March 2014: Weight of the Nation: Choices
February 2014: Hungry for Change
January 2014: Gasland 2
December 2013: Food Beware
November 2013: A Place At The Table
October 2013: The Corporation
September 2013: What’s For Dinner?
August 2013: Forks Over Knives
July 2013: Eat This New York
June 2013: Ingredients
May 2013: Weight of the Nation (Part 1)
April 2013: The Botany of Desire – Part 1 & 4 (Sweetness & Desire)
March 2013: The World According to Monsanto
February 2013: Food Matters
December 2012: Dear Mr Cuomo
November 2012: As We Sow
July 2012: TUPPERWARE!
June 2012: Double Feature: FARMLANDIA & FED UP!
May 2012: The Harvest
April 2012: Farmageddon
March 2012: Queen of the Sun
February 2012: Beer Wars
January 2012: Chow Down
December 2011: Asparagus!
September 2011: Two Angry Moms
May 2011: Bananas!
April 2011: The Garden
March 2011: King Corn
February 2011: All in this Tea
January 2011: Lay it on the Table: Three Short Films about Food
October 2010: Blue Gold
July 2010: Grapes of Wrath
June 2010: Juliette of the Herbs
May 2010: Black Gold
February 2010: A South Asian Journey: Women, farming, and festivals in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal:
January 2010: Fresh!
December 2009: The Real Cost of Food: Agriculture in California’s Central Valley:
November 2009: Manoomin: A Minnesota Way of Life
October 2009: Thirst!
September 2009: H2 Worker
March 2020: Open Sesame: The Story of SeedsOne of the world’s most precious resources is at risk. This film will help others learn what is at stake and what can be done to protect the source of nearly all our food: SEEDS. While the price of gold and oil skyrockets the fate of our most priceless commodity is ignored. Seeds provide the basis for everything from fabric, to food to fuels. They are as essential to life as the air we breathe or water we drink… but given far less attention. Over the past one hundred years, seeds have steadily shifted from being common heritage to sovereign property. This film tells the story of seeds by following the challenges and triumphs of some of their most tireless stewards and advocates. Directed and produced by Sean Kaminsky, fellow member of the Park Slope Food Coop. http://www.opensesamemovie.com

February 2020: Wasted: The Story of Food WasteThrough the eyes of chef-heroes like Anthony Bourdain, Dan Barber, Mario Batali, Massimo Bottura, and Danny Bowien, audiences will see how the world’s most influential chefs make the most of every kind of food, transforming what most people consider scraps and rejects into incredible dishes that feed more people and create a more sustainable food system. The film also features several food waste reduction stories all over the world including waste-fed pigs in Japan, a disposal program that has reduced household food waste by 30% in South Korea, and a garden education curriculum New Orleans. WASTED! The Story of Food Waste showcases forward-thinking leaders who show how each of us can make small changes – all of them delicious – to solve one of the greatest problems of the 21st Century. The Rockefeller Foundation, which made a $130 million commitment to cut food waste in half by 2030, supported Zero Point Zero Films and Anthony Bourdain to create WASTED!

January 2020: Symphony of the SoilDrawing on ancient knowledge and cutting edge science, Symphony of the Soil is an artistic exploration of the miraculous substance that is soil. By understanding the elaborate connections and mutuality between soil, water, the atmosphere, plants and animals, we come to appreciate the complex and dynamic nature of this precious resource. The film also examines our human relationship with soil, including the use and misuse of soil in agriculture, deforestation and development, and the latest scientific research on soil’s key role in ameliorating the most challenging environmental issues of our time. Filmed on four continents, featuring esteemed scientists and working farmers and ranchers, Symphony of the Soil is an intriguing presentation that highlights the role of healthy soil in creating healthy plants that nurture healthy humans living on a healthy planet. Written, directed and produced by Deborah Koons Garcia. Produced by Lily Films.

December 2019: A Prayer for CompassionThe film follows Thomas Jackson on a quest across America, that ultimately takes him to Morocco for the UN Climate Conference and throughout the Indian subcontinent to ask the question, “Can compassion grow to include all beings? and Can people who identify as religious or spiritual come to embrace the call to include all beings in our circle of respect and caring and love?”
Drawing on traditions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, the Native American tradition, Zoroastrianism, and the “spiritual but not religious” point of view — A Prayer for Compassion calls on people of faith and spiritual seekers of every stripe to come together to bring about a world in which “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them…They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:6 and 11:9)

November 2019: Los LecherosIn 17 years of working at a dairy farm, manager Guillermo Ramos Bravo says he has never seen a person born in the U.S. ask his boss for a job. Third-generation farmer John Rosenow recalls a time when farms were typically worked entirely by family; now, it’s “about the last thing that you would do; it’s something that’s relegated to the immigrants.” Los Lecheros explains that farms with immigrant employees produce 70 percent of the U.S. milk supply. Republican farmers who voted for Trump are left hoping he didn’t mean what he said about deporting undocumented immigrants, while their workers carry on in fear, or reluctantly return to Mexico.

October 2019: A Prayer for CompassionThis film was rescheduled for December.

September 2019: Steak R(e)volutionA global pursuit (with layovers in Japan, Argentina, Brazil, France, Spain, the U.S. and other countries) for the best steak in the world, STEAK (R)EVOLUTION features exclusive conversations with chefs, farmers, butchers, steakhouse owners, journalists and experts about the many variables that affect the quality of our meat.
Director Franck Ribiere explains a variety of farming methods and offers a clear description of how the humane treatment of animals (and the different preparation methods) positively impacts our meals. Moreover, STEAK (R)EVOLUTION unravels how small-scale operations have impacted and raised the bar of the entire industry, and how meat producers have implemented sustainable farming practices across the board.

July 2019: One Man, One Cow, One PlanetOne man, One cow, One planet exposes globalization and the mantra of infinite growth in a finite world for what it really is: an environmental and human disaster. But across India marginal farmers are fighting back. By reviving biodynamics an arcane form of agriculture, they are saving their poisoned lands and exposing the bio-colonialism of multinational corporations. One man, One cow, One planet tells their story through the teachings of an elderly New Zealander many are calling the new Gandhi. Written by Barbara Sumner-Burstyn

June 2019: The Birth of SakeIn a world where most mass produced goods are heavily automated, a small group of artisans must brave unusual working conditions to preserve a 2000-year-old tradition that we have come to know as saké. THE BIRTH OF SAKÉ is a cinematic documentary that reveals the story of passionate saké-makers and what it takes to make world-class saké at Yoshida Brewery, a 144-year-old family-owned small brewery in northern Japan. The workers at Yoshida Brewery are an eclectic cast of characters, ranging from 20 to 70 years old. As a vital part of this cast that must live and work for a six-month period through the brutal winter, charismatic veteran brewmaster Yamamoto (65) and the brewery’s sixth-generation heir, Yasuyuki Yoshida (27), are keepers of this tradition, and are the main characters who bring the narrative forward. As craftsmen who must dedicate their whole lives to the making of this world-class saké, their private sacrifices are often sizable and unseen.

May 2019: 42 Grams – An Intimate Portrait of a Complicated ChefAfter working at some of the world’s best restaurants, Jake’s aggressive personality kept him from finding a kitchen to call home. A chef without a restaurant, Jake began cooking fifteen-course menus out of his apartment. Alongside his dedicated wife Alexa, their “underground” restaurant becomes a foodie hot spot. The experience is unique: they present refined flavors while dirty dishes soak in their bedroom. A year later, they take out a lease on an abandoned chicken joint to open a real restaurant, 42 Grams. The film follows them developing menus, hiring and firing staff, shows Jake’s temper, the strains on their marriage, and what they risk in their pursuit of the American Dream.
From the Director’s Statement: I’ve always thought of this film as a “submarine movie” – at the beginning you enter into the vessel and just go deeper and deeper and deeper. You’re trapped in this environment with these two people for two years. Jake refers to the restaurant, which is in the same building they live in, as a prison. You feel the intensity of being in close quarters with this tortured genius. I want the audience to feel like they’re there the whole time – along for the ride. We suffer when they suffer, we feel invested in the hard work that they’ve put in, and we celebrate when the goal is achieved.

April 2019: The Goddesses of FoodIn November of 2013, TIME Magazine released an international cover story called “The Gods of Food”. Unfortunately, not a single female chef appeared on the list. The new documentary, THE GODDESSES OF FOOD is here to change popular perception.
In the male dominated food universe, discover the women changing the game on all levels. Presenting the best female chefs, including multi-Michelin star chefs Dominique Crenn and Barbara Lync, and introducing rising new stars and those making incredible food in all corners of the world. GODDESSES OF FOOD is a global journey exploring female strength in gastronomy.
Prominent chefs and journalists investigate what holds women chefs back in the modern mediated world of cuisine and what needs to be done to change the way women in the food industry are viewed and covered in the press. Featuring Michelin chefs and sommeliers from USA, France, Italy, UK, Spain.

March 2019: Julia! America’s Favorite ChefThis biography of Julia Childs is part of an Emmy-winning documentary series by PBS. The summary below is by the filmmaker Marilyn Mellowes.
Scooping up a potato pancake, patting chickens, coaxing a reluctant soufflé, or rescuing a curdled sauce, Julia Child was never afraid of making mistakes. “Remember, if you are alone in the kitchen, who is going to see you?” she reassured her television audience. Catapulted to fame as the host of the series The French Chef, Julia was an unlikely star. Over 6’2”, middle aged and not conventionally pretty, Julia had a voice [that] careened effortlessly over an octave and could make an aspic shimmy. She was prone to say things like “Hooray” and “Yum, yum.” Her early culinary attempts had been near disasters, but once she learned to cook, her passion for cooking and her devotion to teaching, brought her into the hearts of millions and ultimately made her an American icon. To the fans who knew and loved her, she was known simply as Joooolia.

February 2019: Food Coop – A Documentary about the Park Slope Food CoopThe Most Successful Supermarket in New York City Has Zero Customers and 17,000 Workers. Every day in Brooklyn, hundreds of busy New Yorkers walk past Whole Foods or dozens of other grocery stores promoting natural and organic foods to work at a small supermarket that does no marketing and never holds sales—and yet makes more money per square foot than any other grocery store in New York City . The secret of the Park Slope Food Coop’s more than 40 years of success is simple: to shop there, all 17,000 members—rich and poor, old and young, from every culture and race in the city—have to put in three hours a month of work.
The result is a virtuous cycle. Lower labor costs let the coop charge lower prices. Lower prices attract more people. More people lead to greater buying power. Greater buying power brings even lower prices, more members, makes happier members—and the cycle continues. Little wonder that Europeans have started to look to the Park Slope Food Coop as a model for a positive, sustainable way to undermine corporate monopolies, unite communities, and increase access to high-quality food while also promoting good food and environmentally responsible consumption.
In his first feature-length documentary, FOOD COOP, American-born, Paris-based director Tom Boothe brings wit, insight, and a critical but passionate eye to the story of an American institution, built on pragmatic idealism, that has become a beacon for Europe.

January 2019: BUGSInsects as food is a hot topic. Particularly over the last few years, since the UN recommended edible insects as a resource to combat world hunger, they have been heralded for their taste by cooks and gastronomes, for their low ecological impact by environmentalists and for their nutritional content by public health scientists. It would seem that insects are the new superfood that will fix all our problems of global food security. For the past three years a team from Copenhagen-based Nordic Food Lab made up of chefs and researchers Josh Evans, Ben Reade and Roberto Flore have been travelling the world to learn what some of the two billion people who already eat insects have to say. In BUGS, film director Andreas Johnsen follows them as they forage, farm, cook and taste insects with communities in Europe, Australia, Mexico, Kenya, Japan and beyond. During their journey they encounter everything from revered termite queens and desert-delicacy honey ants to venomous giant hornets and long-horned grasshoppers trapped using powerful floodlights, that sometimes cause their catchers temporary blindness.
Throughout the teams experiences and conversations in the field, at the lab, at farm visits and international conferences, some hard questions start to emerge. If industrially produced insects become the norm, will they be as delicious and as beneficial as the ones in diverse, resilient ecosystems and cuisines around the world? And who will actually benefit as insects are scaled up?
Are insects a mirror that reflects our broken food systems, or the silver bullet that will fix them? More at BugsFeed.

December 2018: Under Contract, Farmers and the Fine PrintFor the first time in a full-length documentary, contract farmers tell their stories and industry experts reveal how the corporate production model pits farmer against farmer. Under Contract: Farmers and the Fine Print takes audiences on a road trip across the American South and to Southern India to understand what’s happening to farmers living under contract and what we can do to change our food system for the better.
The story of the contract farmer is the story of what’s changing in rural America. Power in agriculture is changing hands, but few people know what’s happening to the farmers producing our food. Under Contract tells this story through the lens of global poultry farming. In the U.S. alone, 97% of the chicken produced is raised by family farmers under contract with large companies. Around the world and all across agriculture, contract farming is taking hold. But farmers who sign contracts often face unfair challenges and hidden risks under the terms that are offered by large firms. Under Contract provides a timely glimpse into the little understood fine print of modern agriculture. Produced by Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI).

November 2018: H.O.P.E. What You Eat MattersH.O.P.E. What You Eat Matters” is a life-changing documentary uncovering and revealing the effects of our typical Western diet on our health, the environment and animals. Featuring Jane Goodall, T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Vandana Shiva, Melanie Joy and many other experts, the film has a clear message: By changing our eating habits, we can change the world! For updates, newsletter sign up and more information visit the film website, Hope – The Project
Note: Content may not be suitable for younger children. Applicable German youth protection rating: FSK-12 (not suitable for audiences younger than 12 years)

October 2018: Chef FlynnWhile many of young Flynn McGarry’s peers were playing video games, he was creating remarkable gastronomic delights far beyond his years at his home in Studio City, California. Flynn’s family encouraged him to pursue his creative passion, and his unique journey was thoroughly documented by his artist mother. He loved to prepare elaborate dinners for friends and family and soon became known as the “Teen Chef,” establishing his own supper club at age 12 and being featured in a New York Times Magazine cover story at age 15. Before he was 16, he had staged in top restaurants in Los Angeles, New York, and Europe. Trying to stay focused on his dream, Flynn had to weather the critics who challenged his rapid ascent in the culinary world.
With access to a trove of personal archival footage and including new, intimate vérité footage, director Cameron Yates creates a collage of Flynn’s singular focus and distinctive path through childhood. Chef Flynn shares a rare view of a young man’s successful rise from the inside.
Guy Lodge wrote in his review for Variety, “There’s a different, darker film lurking beneath the lusciously edible Food Network surface of “Chef Flynn,” and when director Cameron Yates lets it peek out from the gastroporn, like little chips of charcoal in a white chocolate mousse, you feel a slight jab in your gut.”

September 2018: Kings of PastryFilmmakers D A Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus secured exclusive access to shoot this epic, never-before-filmed test of France’s finest artisans. The film follows chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, co-founder of Chicago’s French Pastry School, as he journeys back to his childhood home of Alsace to practice for the contest. Two other finalists are profiled in the film — chef Regis Lazard, who was competing for the second time (he dropped his sugar sculpture the first time), and chef Philippe Rigollot, from Maison Pic, France’s only three-star restaurant owned by a woman.
During the grueling final competition, chefs work under constant scrutiny by master judges and the critical palates of some of the world’s most renowned chefs evaluate their elaborate pastries. Finally, these pastry marathoners racing the clock must hand carry all their creations including their fragile sugar sculptures through a series of rooms to a final buffet area without shattering them. The film captures the high-stakes drama of the competition – passion, sacrifice, disappointment, and joy – in the quest to become one of the KINGS OF PASTRY.

July 2018: Knife SkillsWhat does it take to build a world-class French restaurant? What if the staff is almost entirely men and women just out of prison? What if most have never cooked or served before, and have barely two months to learn their trade?
Knife Skills follows the hectic launch of Edwins restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio. In this improbable setting, with its mouthwatering dishes and its arcane French vocabulary, we discover the challenges of men and women finding their way after their release. We come to know three trainees intimately, as well as the restaurant’s founder, who is also dogged by his past.
They all have something to prove, and all struggle to launch new lives — an endeavor as
pressured and perilous as the ambitious restaurant launch of which they are a part.

June 2018: Food, Family & Farms: Growing the Next Generation – Shorts SelectionA group of Real Food Media shorts, and one TedX talk.
– Birke Baehr, an 11-year-old boy, on what’s wrong with our food system in a TedX talk
– A Greene Generation, In rural western North Carolina, you’ll find a small, organic, family farm whose next generation is passionate about good food.
– At Needle Point, A haunting portrait of a mother and daughter, exposing the crippling effect of diabetes and the toxic relationship between sugar, poverty, and health. Written and performed by a Youth Speaks champion.
– Food Forward: Grocery List, Follow the GlobalGirls as they make a list and go grocery shopping, But there’s only one problem: they can’t find a decent grocery store in their neighborhood.
– Hunger in America’s Heartland, A portrait of a family in Iowa struggling with food security and a local food bank that provides support to families in the community.
– Feed Your Baby, Singer-songwriter Jen Chapin’s hauntingly beautiful music video.
– Homegirl, Former gang members are transformed by a powerful urban gardening-plus-food business enterprise. Their moving stories will bring you to tears.
– Real Food Rising, Get inspired by the story of Real Food Rising, a youth empowerment program and urban farm in Salt Lake City, UT.
– Compass Green: Mobile Greenhouse Visits Frontier Co-op, A roving mobile greenhouse teaches children about where their food comes from.
Run time approximately 45 minutes.

May: Rotten, Episode 2: The Peanut ProblemRotten is a new documentary series about corruption in the food world. Created by Zero Point Zero Production, it consists of six hour-long episodes featuring farmers, fishermen, scientists, and doctors shedding light on the surprising and at times downright disgusting ways that common foodstuffs are brought to market.
The Peanut Problem brings awareness to the surge in food allergies and the people working behind the scenes to combat it. The episode features world-renowned allergy and asthma researcher, Dr Ruchi Gupta of Northwestern University and Lurie Children’s Hospitals, as well as Susie Hultquist, founder of Spokin.
Q&A following screening with filmmaker.

April 2018: Hot GreaseSet in Houston, Texas in the shadow of the nation’s oil industry, Hot Grease tells the surprising story of how the biodiesel industry is turning an ostensibly worthless raw material-spent kitchen grease-into a green energy source capable of fueling all of the trains, ships and trucks throughout the country–if it can overcome the powerful forces working against it. Featuring innovators, entrepreneurs, grease collectors and supporters like Senator Al Franken, HOT GREASE follows the battle for biodiesel’s future and it’s very survival. Directed and produced by Sam Wainwright Douglas, Paul Lovelace, and Jessica Wolfson. Cinematography by Andrew Alden Miller.

March: The Apple PushersThe Apple Pushers, written and directed by Mary Mazzio, narrated by Edward Norton, and underwritten by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, follows immigrant street vendors who are rolling fresh fruits and vegetables into poorer neighborhoods of New York where finding a fresh red ripe apple can be a serious challenge.

February 2018: Real Food Films Top 10Real Food Films is the first-ever international competition to celebrate short films on sustainable food and farming. We screened the top 10 submissions from this year, along with an additional short called Green Bronx Machine.

January 2018: Wild PlantsPeople’s associations with flora goes back a long way, taking us back to our own roots as well as to new ways of life and creative potential that reveal themselves as we deal with plants. ‘Wild Plants’ is a film that follows these clues and takes us to urban gardens in Detroit, to Native American philosopher Milo Yellow Hair in Wounded Knee, to the wild plantations of Zurich’s legendary ‘Guerilla Gardener’ Maurice Maggi, and to the innovative horticulture cooperative ‘Les Jardins de Cocagne’ in Geneva.

December 2017: The Fish On My PlateIn 2015 author and fisherman Paul Greenberg asked himself the question: “What fish should I eat that’s good for me and good for the planet?” In an effort to arrive at an answer, on September 1 of that year, and for the following 365 days, Greenberg cut land-based animals out of his omnivorous diet and replaced them with sea animals—all different types of fish, shellfish and crustaceans.
Greenberg consumed sea animals “for breakfast, lunch and dinner…and sometimes snacks.” When he wasn’t researching seafood recipes, cooking in or eating out, Greenberg, who is also a Pew Fellow for Marine Conservation and Safina Center Fellow, was traveling and meeting with the world’s foremost fisheries experts. He tells his story in a forthcoming PBS Frontline documentary called “The Fish on My Plate.”

November 2017: Fish Tail (Rabo de Peixe)Rabo de Peixe is a village in the Azores that is home to the largest collection of artisanal fisheries on the whole archipelago. Joaquim Pinto and Nuno Leonel first came here at the end of 1998 to see in the New Year. After befriending a young fisherman named Pedro, they decided to make a film with him over the following year, a TV documentary later tampered with by the broadcaster and shown only once.
They have now edited the same material into something new, a tender essay rooted in friendship and fascination. The two of them follow Pedro out to sea to land mackerel and swordfish or just drink in the atmosphere of the island: rippling fish shoals, fireworks over the harbor, a procession through slender white streets, bodies on black sand. Themes emerge unobtrusively: the virtue of working by hand, industrial restrictions, the slippery concept of a free man. Here, friends can easily commandeer the camera, there’s enough room for sea monsters and stories and the very grain of the footage adds to its beauty.
By the end, Portugal has the euro, songs are sung and somebody is missing. A bygone era, near and yet far, images of happiness of things no longer there.

October 2017: Juliette of the HerbsJULIETTE OF THE HERBS is a beautifully filmed lyrical portrait of the life and work of Juliette de Bairacli Levy, world renowned herbalist, author, breeder of Afghan hounds, friend of the Gypsies, traveller in search of herbal wisdom and the pioneer of holistic veterinary medicine. For more than 60 years Juliette lived with the Gypsies, nomads and peasants of the world, learning the healing arts from these peoples who live close to nature. Juliette’s well-loved and now classic herbals for animals and for children have been a vital inspiration for the present day herbal renaissance and holistic animal care community. Juliette’s extraordinary life story is as colorful and as exciting as her tremendous wealth of herbal knowledge. Filmed on location with Juliette and her Afghan hound in Greece, Spain, France, Portugal, Switzerland, England and America and interwoven with Juliette’s vast collection of archival photographs, together with scenes of Gypsies dancing and Bedouins with their herds, JULIETTE OF THE HERBS is an inspiring portrait of a remarkable healer.

September 2017: FreshFRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.
Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.

August2017: Portrait of a GardenThe oldest and most beautiful “kitchen garden” in the Netherlands, owned by Daan van der Have who cares for it with 85-year-old pruning master Jan Freriks, belongs to an estate that dates backs to 1630. Rosie Stapel’s debut feature records their passionate oversight of the vegetables and flowering trees to which they are devoted. The two are marvelous company, whether shaping a black mulberry, debating the proper care for garlic, fennel, spring green cabbage, beetroot or Japanese wine berry, or contemplating their 15-year wait for pear trees to grow. Their connoisseurship, knowledge, and exacting care, bear beautiful fruit – and an elegant, meditative film.

July 2017: El Remolino (The Swirl)Pedro is a farmer who defends his identity and his dreams; his sister Esther strives for a better future for her daughter as she shares her world through the lens of her small camera. They live in El Remolino, a tiny riverside community in Chiapas, Mexico, which is affected by strong floods every year. To them, life is like a swirl that spins them across the journey of their internal cycles and of the greater natural cycle of the river.

June 2017: Super Size MeWhile examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald’s food for one month. Morgan Spurlock’s first film, Super Size Me, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004, winning Best Directing honors. The film went on to win the inaugural Writers Guild of America best documentary screenplay award as well as garner an Academy Award nomination for best feature documentary.

May 2017: Soul Food JunkiesFilmmaker Byron Hurt grew up eating lots of soul food: grits and scrambled eggs covered with cheese, buttered biscuits with gravy, bacon, and other fatty foods.
Soul food is a source of pride for many black people and can be good for you. But when it is cooked with lots of fat, sugar, and salt it can lead to obesity and other health issues.
In Soul Food Junkies, Hurt sets out on a culinary journey to learn more about soul food tradition and its relevance to black cultural identity. Through candid interviews with cooks, historians, scholars, doctors, family, and everyday people, the film puts this tradition under the microscope.

December 2016: Food For ThoughtWe want our food fast, convenient and cheap, but at what cost? As farms have become supersized,
our environment suffers and so does the quality of our food. Susan Rockefeller’s short film, Food for Thought, Food for Life (20 min.) explains the downsides of current agribusiness practices, and also introduces us to farmers, chefs, researchers, educators, and advocates who are providing solutions. The film is both poetic and practical; its powerful examination of the connections between our planet and our well-being is accompanied by specific strategies that protect both. With an eye towards a sustainable and abundant future, it offers inspiration for communities that are ready to make a difference.
  
November 2016: KombitThe Plow to Plate Film Series brings the documentary “KOMBIT: The Cooperative” to the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn to celebrate a five-year pledge by Timberland to plant five million trees, that becomes a story of empowerment, friendship, and hope for the people of Haiti. Directed by the award-winning filmmakers at Found Object, the film chronicles an unlikely partnership between a Haitian agronomist and a former NGO leader who band together with bootmaker Timberland for a project that quickly evolves into an innovative and sustainable business model that improved farmers’ lives and is helping create a greener future for Haiti. Over the course of five years, the documentary follows the partnership between Timberland and SFA, revealing how a simple tree-planting goal empowered 3,200 farmers to restore their land and take control of their futures.

October 2016: Symphony of the SoilSymphony of the Soil is a 104-minute documentary feature film that explores the complexity and mystery of soil. Filmed on four continents and sharing the voices of some of the world’s most esteemed soil scientists, farmers and activists, the film portrays soil as a protagonist of our planetary story. Using a captivating mix of art and science, the film shows that soil is a complex living organism, the foundation of life on earth. Yet most people are soil-blind and “treat soil like dirt.” Through the knowledge and wisdom revealed in this film, we can come to respect, even revere, this miraculous substance, and appreciate that treating the soil right can help solve some of our most pressing environmental problems. In addition to the feature film, there are several short films, Sonatas of the Soil, that delve deeply into soil-related topics, and several short clips, Grace Notes, that are available to stream on the film’s website.

September 2016: All In This TeaIn All In This Tea (2007), Les Blank’s handheld camera takes us into the hidden world of tea by following world-renowned tea expert David Lee Hoffman to some of the most remote regions of China in search of the best handmade teas in the world.
The film moves from a modern, urban setting to a pastoral China rarely glimpsed by westerners. Scenes shot in cinema verite are interwoven with more formal presentations about the fundamentals of tea with tea authorities James Norwood Pratt, Gaetano Kazuo Maida, and Winnie W. Yu.
This helps make clear what is at stake, and thereby lends weight to Hoffman’s endeavor. It is hoped that the viewer will feel as if they have been somewhere they’ve never been before, and ask themselves what is out there that is worth preserving.

July 2016: End of the LineThe End Of The Line follows a coalition of activists – farmers, religious orders, environmentalists and constitutional conservatives – as they protect their land, liberty and even their lives from a controversial hazardous liquids pipeline in Kentucky.
The film documents the grassroots resistance to The Bluegrass Pipeline in 2013 and 2014 following the story all the way through to the pipeline’s unprecedented defeat. This documentary from award-winning filmmaker Sellus Wilder encourages viewers to consider the effects of their actions on the global energy paradigm.
This screening was graciously sponsored by Food & Water Watch.

June 2016: VegucatedPart sociological experiment and part adventure comedy, Vegucated follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks. Lured by tales of weight lost and health regained, they begin to uncover the hidden sides of animal agriculture that make them wonder whether solutions offered in films like Food, Inc. go far enough. This entertaining documentary showcases the rapid and at times comedic evolution of three people who discover they can change the world one bite at a time.

May 2016: Eat: The Story Of FoodFood. It’s driven nearly everything we’ve ever done as a species, and yet it’s the most overlooked aspects of human history. In the beginning, our hunger drove us to hunt. Then, it led us to plant and settle, resulting in civilization. We conquered the land, and we went out into the ocean and the larger world. We filled our bellies, but it still wasn’t enough. We searched for flavor and convenience, adapting science and technology. Humanity’s appetite has shaped our history and altered the planet and future. This series is the epic story behind food and how it made us “us.”

April 2016: King GeorgesGeorges Perrier, a proud, quixotic French chef, struggles to save his world-renowned, 40-year-old-plus Philadelphia restaurant, Le Bec-Fin, from the forces of progress and the changing tastes of his customers.
“Poignant, emotional…steady stream of laughter.” -Variety
“A remarkably presented lion-in-winter story” -The Philadelphia Inquirer
For those of you who enjoyed our screening of King Georges and for those who were unfortunate to miss it, the following information from the film maker may be of interest to you.
Here’s a link to various ways you can still catch the film on demand & online (it will be on Hulu in the fall and onto Netflix, etc.): http://gowatchit.com/movies/king-georges-409420
And here’s the film’s website with details on King Georges social media: www.kinggeorgesfilm.com

March 2016: Food ChainsIn this exposé, an intrepid group of Florida farmworkers battle to defeat the $4 trillion global supermarket industry through their ingenious Fair Food program, which partners with growers and retailers to improve working conditions for farm laborers in the United States.
Food Chains reveals the human cost in our food supply and the complicity of large buyers of produce like fast food and supermarkets. Fast food is big, but supermarkets are bigger – earning $4 trillion globally. They have tremendous power over the agricultural system. Over the past 3 decades they have drained revenue from their supply chain leaving farmworkers in poverty and forced to work under subhuman conditions. Yet many take no responsibility for this.
More information on the film’s website.

February 2016: Sustainable TableOver nine months, director Mischa Hedges and his crew traveled the west coast to learn more about our food system. While interviewing farmers, agricultural experts, nutritionists and activists, Mischa and his team learned that the standard methods of producing food do not take environmental or human health costs into consideration.
They also spoke with farmers who are practicing more sustainable methods of producing food, and learned of the many alternatives to conventional agriculture.
The result is a 52 minute documentary that takes an unadulterated look into the food you eat, and how you can make a difference to your health and the environment by the food choices you make. What’s on your plate? Where does it come from? What effects does it have on the environment and your body? What can you do to help? More information on the Sustainable Table website.

January 2016: Sushi: The Global CatchHow did sushi become a global cuisine? What began as a simple but elegant food sold by Tokyo street vendors has become a worldwide phenomenon in the past 30 years. This feature-length documentary, shot in five nations, explores the tradition, growth and future of this popular cuisine. Beautiful raw pieces of fish and rice now appear from Warsaw and New York to football games in Texas towns. Can this growth continue without consequence? More information on the film’s website.

December 2015: Carb LoadedCarb-Loaded: A Culture Dying to Eat is a documentary film written and directed by Lathe Poland and Eric Carlsen. The film explores the exploding diabetes epidemic. Not by coincidence, Lathe was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2010. He thought of himself as a healthy eater. He rarely ate sweets, never drank soda, and had no family history of diabetes. More information on the film’s website.

(no trailer available)November 2015: Growing ChangeGrowing Change: A Journey Inside Venezuela’s Food Revolution investigates our current food system and solutions to world hunger. Contrary to popular belief, modern agriculture techniques are not a solution, but rather the very heart of the problem. Due to our chemical-based agriculture system, the Earth’s soil is depleting faster than it can be replaced; poor soil quality is a core problem facing farmers across the globe. The film offers inspiration and hope, and demonstrates how communities can take back control of the food supply and gain independence, while feeding those who would otherwise not be able to afford to eat.

October 2015: Overfed & UndernourishedOverfed & Undernourished is a feature length health and lifestyle documentary that examines a global epidemic through one boy’s inspiring and personal journey to regain his health from the inside out. Interspersed with interviews and advice from leading health and wellbeing experts from around the globe, providing simple solutions to improve the quality of our own lives, and ultimately asking the fundamental question… Are we really nourishing ourselves?
More information on the film’s website: www.overfedandundernourishedmovie.com/

September 2015: Seeds of TimeA perfect storm is brewing as agriculture pioneer Cary Fowler races against time to protect the future of our food. Seed banks around the world are crumbling, crop failures are producing starvation and rioting, and the accelerating effects of climate change are affecting farmers globally. Communities of indigenous Peruvian farmers are already suffering those effects, as they try desperately to save over 1,500 varieties of native potato in their fields. But with little time to waste, both Fowler and the farmers embark on passionate and personal journeys that may save the one resource we cannot live without: our seeds.
More information on the film’s website: www.seedsoftimemovie.com/

 July 2015: Weight of the Nation: Children in CrisisChildhood obesity is much more than a cosmetic concern. The health consequences of childhood obesity include greater risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma and other serious illnesses. The combination of these health effects and the dramatic increase in childhood obesity rates over the past three decades causes some experts to fear this may be the first generation of American children who will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. Weight of the Nation: Children in Crisis is the third part of a four-part series on HBO that explores the obesity epidemic in America.
More information on the film’s website: http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/

June 2015: Salmon ConfidentialSalmon Confidential is a new film on the government cover up of what is killing BC’s wild salmon. When biologist Alexandra Morton discovers BC’s wild salmon are testing positive for dangerous European salmon viruses associated with salmon farming worldwide, a chain of events is set off by government to suppress the findings. Tracking viruses, Morton moves from courtrooms, into British Columbia’s most remote rivers, Vancouver grocery stores and sushi restaurants. The film documents Morton’s journey as she attempts to overcome government and industry roadblocks thrown in her path and works to bring critical information to the public in time to save BC’s wild salmon. The film provides surprising insight into the inner workings of government agencies, as well as rare footage of the bureaucrats tasked with managing our fish and the safety of our food supply.
More information on the film’s website: http://www.salmonconfidential.ca/
    May 2015: GrazersNew York State loses a farm every three days, and with it a way of life, generations of farming knowledge, small town infrastructure and a whole landscape. For two years Jackson and Teale filmed with a group of fiercely independent farmers in upstate New York as they attempt to put together a cooperative to sell their grass fed beef and save their farms.
More information on the film website: www.grazersfilm.com

  
  
April 2015: The Future of FoodThe Future of Food distills the complex technology and consumer issues surrounding major changes in the food system today — genetically engineered foods, patenting, and the corporatization of food — into terms the average person can understand. It empowers consumers to realize the consequences of their food choices on our future. See more information at the films website: http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

  
  
March 2015: Seeds of DeathThe global launch of a second Green Revolution, spearheaded by genetic engineering corporations such as Monsanto and DuPont, shows every sign of being as catastrophic as the first revolution.
This film, by award-winning documentary film director Gary Null, takes on the seed cartel’s propaganda and political influence to expose a fabric of lies and deceit now threatening the safety and life of every species. The film’s message is clear: the future of food security that relies upon GMOs will devastate the planet and create catastrophic health and food crises for the world population.

  
  
February 2015: Open SesameOne of the world’s most precious resources is at risk. This film will help others learn what is at stake and what can be done to protect the source of nearly all our food: SEEDS. While the price of gold and oil skyrockets the fate of our most priceless commodity is ignored. Seeds provide the basis for everything from fabric, to food to fuels. They are as essential to life as the air we breathe or water we drink… but given far less attention. Over the past one hundred years, seeds have steadily shifted from being common heritage to sovereign property. This film tells the story of seeds by following the challenges and triumphs of some of their most tireless stewards and advocates. http://www.opensesamemovie.com

  
  
January 2015: Genetic Roulette: The Gamble of our LivesNever-Before-Seen-Evidence points to genetically engineered foods as a major contributor to rising disease rates in the US population, especially among children. Gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, inflammatory diseases, and infertility are just some of the problems implicated in humans, pets, livestock, and lab animals that eat genetically modified soybeans and corn. Monsanto’s strong arm tactics, the FDA’s fraudulent policies, and how the USDA ignores a growing health emergency are also laid bare. This sometimes shocking film may change your diet, help you protect your family, and accelerate the consumer tipping point against genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

  
  
December 2014: Food DesignThe sound of sausage: When a bite produces a distinct crunch, they taste particularly good. Fish sticks, on the other hand, don’t make such great noises, but they can be arranged nicely in the pan. And is it merely a coincidence that bologna fits perfectly onto a slice of bread, and that when combined, they make up a popular snack?
Designers create clothes, furniture, cars and all kinds of useful items. So why not food? Food designers work on things to eat, giving them a certain style and function. They not only make sure that food and drink fill our stomachs, but also that the eating process is practical and appeals to all the senses – so that we’re hungry for more.
FOOD DESIGN takes a look at the secret chambers of a major manufacturer of food, where designers and scientists are defining your favorite mouthful of tomorrow. It shows how form, color, smell, consistency, the sounds made during eating, manufacturing technique, history and stories are all aspects of food and eating that both influence food design, and are created by it.

  
  
November 2014:GMO OMGGMO OMG director and concerned father Jeremy Seifert is in search of answers. How do GMOs affect our children, the health of our planet, and our freedom of choice? And perhaps the ultimate question, which Seifert tests himself: is it even possible to reject the food system currently in place, or have we lost something we can’t gain back? These and other questions take Seifert on a journey from his family’s table to Haiti, Paris, Norway, and the lobby of agra-giant Monsanto, from which he is unceremoniously ejected. Along the way we gain insight into a question that is of growing concern to citizens the world over: what’s on your plate? – See more at: http://www.gmofilm.com/#sthash.Qd9rdsKp.dpuf

  
  
July 2014: Nothing Like ChocolateDeep in the rain forests of Grenada, anarchist chocolatier Mott Green seeks solutions to the problems of a ravaged global chocolate industry. Solar power, employee shareholding and small-scale antique equipment turn out delicious chocolate in the hamlet of Hermitage, Grenada. Finding hope in an industry entrenched in enslaved child labor, irresponsible corporate greed, and tasteless, synthetic products,Nothing like Chocolate reveals the compelling story of the relentless Green, founder of the Grenada Chocolate Company. Nothing Like Chocolate traces the continued growth of Mott’s co-operative, exposing the practices and politics of how chocolate has moved worldwide from a sacred plant to corporate blasphemy.

  
  
June 2014: Ted TalksJoin bakers, chefs, food scientists, farmers and foodies for some truth about food. These discussions explore and celebrate all things food, covering flavor, sustainability, obesity, famine and more. Featured talks are “My subversive (garden) plot” – Roger Doiron shows how gardens can re-localize our food and feed our growing population; “The Global Food Waste Scandal” – Tristram Stuart delves into the shocking data of wasted food, “Why Bees are Disappearing” – Marla Spivak reveals four reasons which are interacting with tragic consequences, and Robyn O’Brien talks movingly about her child’s food allergies at TEDxAustin 2011.

  
  
May 2014: Brooklyn Farmer“Brooklyn Farmer” explores the unique challenges facing Brooklyn Grange, a group of urban farmers who endeavor to run a commercially viable farm within the landscape of New York City. As their growing operation expands to a second roof, the team confronts the realities inherent in operating the world’s largest rooftop farm in one of the world’s biggest cities.

  
  
April 2014: Brewed In BrooklynSit back, crack open a cold one and see the history of the one time, and perhaps future beer brewing capital of the world, Brooklyn NY. Brewed in Brooklyn explores the origins of the brewing industry in Brooklyn from early 1800s up to and including the modern day craft brewers and home brewers who are helping to transform the borough into one of the most sought after places in the world to live and work. Rare footage, classic commercials and exclusive interviews make this a must see for beer lovers, historians and anyone who has ever called, or wanted to call Brooklyn NY their home.

  
  
March 2014: Weight of the Nation: ChoicesThe Weight of the Nation, Choices, poses a question that anyone who’s struggled with excess weight has asked: For all the remarkable high-tech tools available to medicine, for all the billions of dollars in drug research, there’s still no highly effective medication to prevent or reverse obesity – why?
Research shows that successful programs target both eating less and being more physically active. Maintaining a lower weight is an ongoing process that requires work and must be constantly monitored. Taking time to think about what we eat – and why we are eating – can be an effective way to attain and maintain a healthy weight.

  
  
February 2014: Hungry for ChangeHUNGRY FOR CHANGE exposes shocking secrets the diet, weight-loss and food industry don’t want you to know about; deceptive strategies designed to keep you coming back for more. Find out what’s keeping you from having the body and health you deserve and how to escape the diet trap forever.

  
  
January 2014: Gasland 2In this explosive follow-up to his Oscar®-nominated film GASLAND, filmmaker Josh Fox uses his trademark dark humor to take a deeper, broader look at the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial method of extracting natural gas and oil, now occurring on a global level (in 32 countries worldwide).
GASLAND PART II, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, shows how the stakes have been raised on all sides in one of the most important environmental issues facing our nation today. The film argues that the gas industry’s portrayal of natural gas as a clean and safe alternative to oil is a myth and that fracked wells inevitably leak over time, contaminating water and air, hurting families, and endangering the earth’s climate with the potent greenhouse gas, methane. In addition the film looks at how the powerful oil and gas industries are in Fox’s words “contaminating our democracy”.

  
  
December 2013: Food BewareFor the first time ever, our children are growing up less healthy than we are. As the rate of cancer, infertility and other illnesses linked to environmental factors climbs ever upward each year, we must ask ourselves: why is this happening?
Food Beware begins with a visit to a small village in France, where the town’s mayor has decided to make the school lunch menu organic and locally grown. It then talks to a wide variety of people with differing perspectives to find common ground – children, parents, teachers, health care workers, farmers, elected officials, scientists, researchers and the victims of illnesses themselves. Revealed in these moving and often surprising conversations are the abuses of the food industry, the competing interests of agrobusiness and public health, the challenges and rewards of safe food production, and the practical solutions that we can all take part in. Food Beware is food for thought – and a blueprint for a growing revolution.
Featuring original music by Oscar-winner Gabriel Yared.
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Berlin Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Montreal Festival of New Cinema

  
  
November 2013: A Place At The Table50 Million Americans—1 in 4 children—don’t know where their next meal is coming from. A Place at the Table tells the powerful stories of three such Americans, who maintain their dignity even as they struggle just to eat. In a riveting journey that will change forever how you think about the hungry, A Place at the Table shows how the issue could be solved forever, once the American public decides—as they have in the past—that ending hunger is in the best interests of us all. – See more at: http://www.magpictures.com/aplaceatthetable/#sthash.zhNLhpV8.dpuf

  
  
October 2013: The CorporationProvoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking its status as a legal “person” to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist’s couch to ask “What kind of person is it?” The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders and critics – including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore – plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.

  
  
September 2013: What’s For Dinner?What’s For Dinner? follows the rapid rise of animal product consumption in China, where consumption of pork—the country’s most popular meat—has doubled over the past ten years. Since China recently opened its doors to foreign agribusiness, both Western and home-grown fast food chains are now commonplace in urban areas, and contribute to a $28 billion-a-year business in the country.

  
  
August 2013: Forks Over KnivesFORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods. The major storyline in the film traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering yet under-appreciated researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.

  
  
July 2013: Eat This New YorkBest friends and aspiring restaurateurs Billy Phelps and John McCormick attempt to open a New York City eatery as some of the city’s best-known restaurateurs recall their own days of struggle in this documentary from filmmakers Kate Novak and Andrew Rossi.
From financial crises to kitchen problems and issues that nearly derail the venture before doors even open for business, Phelps and McCormick keep the dream alive by converting an old check-cashing shop into a retro speakeasy.

  
  
June 2013: IngredientsAt the focal point of this movement, and of this film, are the farmers and chefs who are creating a truly sustainable food system. Their collaborative work has resulted in great tasting food and an explosion of consumer awareness about the benefits of eating local.
Attention being paid to the local food movement comes at a time when the failings of our current industrialized food system are becoming all too clear. For the first time in history, our children’s generation is expected to have a shorter lifespan than our own. The quality, taste and nutritional value of the food we eat has dropped sharply over the last fifty years. Shipped from ever-greater distances, we have literally lost sight of where our food comes from and in the process we’ve lost a vital connection to our local community and to our health.
A feature-length documentary, INGREDIENTS illustrates how people around the country are working to revitalize that connection. Narrated by Bebe Neuwirth, the film takes us across the U.S. from the diversified farms of the Hudson River and Willamette Valleys to the urban food deserts of Harlem and to the kitchens of celebrated chefs Alice Waters, Peter Hoffman and Greg Higgins. INGREDIENTS is a journey that reveals the people behind the movement to bring good food back to the table and health back to our communities.
INGREDIENTS is a seasonal exploration of the local food movement. Learn more at: http://www.ingredientsfilm.com/

  
  
May 2013: Weight of the Nation: Part 1The first film in The Weight of the Nation series examines the scope of the obesity epidemic and explores the serious health consequences of being overweight or obese.
Bringing together the nation’s leading research institutions, THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION is a presentation of HBO and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and in partnership with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Kaiser Permanente.
The centerpiece of THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION campaign is the four-part documentary series, each featuring case studies, interviews with our nation’s leading experts, and individuals and their families struggling with obesity. The first film, CONSEQUENCES, examines the scope of the obesity epidemic and explores the serious health consequences of being overweight or obese. The second, CHOICES, offers viewers the skinny on fat, revealing what science has shown about how to lose weight, maintain weight loss and prevent weight gain. The third, CHILDREN IN CRISIS, documents the damage obesity is doing to our nation’s children. Through individual stories, this film describes how the strong forces at work in our society are causing children to consume too many calories and expend too little energy; tackling subjects from school lunches to the decline of physical education, the demise of school recess and the marketing of unhealthy food to children. The fourth film, CHALLENGES, examines the major driving forces causing the obesity epidemic, including agriculture, economics, evolutionary biology, food marketing, racial and socioeconomic disparities, physical inactivity, American food culture, and the strong influence of the food and beverage industry.
Learn more at: http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/

  
  
April 2013: The Botany of Desire – Part 1 & 4 (Sweetness & Desire)Michael Pollan, a professor of journalism and a student of food, presents the history of four plants, each of which found a way to make itself essential to humans, thus ensuring widespread propagation. Apples, for sweetness; tulips, for beauty; marijuana, for pleasure; and, potatoes, for sustenance. Each has a story of discovery and adaptation; each has a symbiotic relationship with human civilization. The film tells these stories and examines these relationships.
Learn more at: http://video.pbs.org/program/botany-of-desire/

  
  
March 2013: The World According to MonsantoThere’s nothing they are leaving untouched: the mustard, the okra, the bringe oil, the rice, the cauliflower. Once they have established the norm: that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be collected. We will depend on them for every seed we grow of every crop we grow. If they control seed, they control food, they know it – it’s strategic. It’s more powerful than bombs. It’s more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world. The story starts in the White House, where Monsanto often got its way by exerting disproportionate influence over policymakers via the “revolving door”. One example is Michael Taylor, who worked for Monsanto as an attorney before being appointed as deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1991. While at the FDA, the authority that deals with all US food approvals, Taylor made crucial decisions that led to the approval of GE foods and crops. Then he returned to Monsanto, becoming the company’s vice president for public policy.
Thanks to these intimate links between Monsanto and government agencies, the US adopted GE foods and crops without proper testing, without consumer labeling and in spite of serious questions hanging over their safety. Not coincidentally, Monsanto supplies 90 percent of the GE seeds used by the US market. Monsanto’s long arm stretched so far that, in the early nineties, the US Food and Drugs Agency even ignored warnings of their own scientists, who were cautioning that GE crops could cause negative health effects. Other tactics the company uses to stifle concerns about their products include misleading advertising, bribery and concealing scientific evidence.
Learn more and watch the film online at http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-world-according-to-monsanto/

  
  
February 2013: Food Matters“Let thy Food be thy Medicine and thy Medicine be thy Food” – Hippocrates. That is the message from the founding father of modern medicine echoed in the controversial new documentary film Food Matters from Producer-Directors James Colquhoun and Laurentine ten Bosch.
With nutritionally-depleted foods, chemical additives and our tendency to rely upon pharmaceutical drugs to treat what’s wrong with our malnourished bodies, it’s no wonder that modern society is getting sicker. Food Matters sets about uncovering the trillion dollar worldwide ‘sickness industry’ and gives people some scientifically verifiable solutions for overcoming illness naturally.
Food Matters is a 2008 documentary film about nutrition, exploring malnutrition and cancer causes. The film is presented in the style of a documentary, containing interviews, animations, and footage of various therapies and practices.
Learn more at http://foodmatters.tv/

  
  
December 2012: Dear Governor Cuomo‘Dear Governor Cuomo’ is a concert protest film aimed at influencing New York state’s decision to ban hydraulic fracturing – fracking – or adopt it. Featuring local activists including Mark Ruffalo, Melissa Leo, Natalie Merchant, Pete Seeger, Citizen Cope and scientists like Sandra Steingraber, the film – a blend of ‘The Last Waltz’ and ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ lays out the science and facts behind the decision and encourages the governor to join the anti-fracking majority in his state. Though focused on the issue in New York, the education, and incredible music, are relevant in the 34 states that already allow fracking.

  
  
November 2012: As We SowAS WE SOW documents the stories of survival and failure in the real heartland, a struggle pitting family against family, neighbor against neighbor, citizens against their government, and small, independent farmers against the giants of global agribusiness. At the center is the land itself: who will control it and how, and at what cost to people and communities, to animals and the environment, and, ultimately to our democracy.
You can learn more on the As We Sow website.

  
  
July 2012: TUPPERWARE!In the 1950s, American women discovered they could earn thousands — even millions — of dollars from bowls that burped. “Tupperware ladies” fanned out across the nation’s living rooms, selling efficiency and convenience to their friends and neighbors through home parties. Bowl by bowl, they built an empire that now spans the globe.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE presents Tupperware!, a new documentary by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt (A Midwife’s Tale). Narrated by Kathy Bates, this funny, thought-provoking film reveals the secret behind Tupperware’s success: the women of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds who discovered they could move up in the world without leaving the house. Tupperware! charts the origins of the small plastics company that unpredictably became a cultural phenomenon.
Visit the website at www.thetupperwarefilm.com for more information.

  
  
Farmlandia Select Scenes from Jan Weber on Vimeo.June 2012: Double Feature: FARMLANDIA & FED UP!Special post-screening Q&A with the Director of FARMLANDIA, Jan Weber.
FARMLANDIA: This new documentary uncovers a food and farm system made up of very different and often opposing views of how farming should be done, where it should be done, and to what end. Farmlandia lies at the intersection of Big Ag and the independent farmer and rancher, revealing the harsh realities of a distressed, dysfunctional—if not broken—food system and the seeds of a not-so-quiet revolution aimed at changing it.
FED UP: Using hilarious and disturbing archival footage and featuring interviews with farmers, scientists, government officials and activists, FED UP! presents an entertaining, informative and compelling overview of our food production system from the Green Revolution to the Biotech Revolution and what we can do about it.

  
  
May 2012: The HarvestEvery year there are more than 400,000 American children who are torn away from their friends, schools and homes to pick the food we all eat. Zulema, Perla and Victor labor as migrant farm workers, sacrificing their own childhoods to help their families survive. THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA profiles these three as they journey from the scorching heat of Texas’ onion fields to the winter snows of the Michigan apple orchards and back south to the humidity of Florida’s tomato fields to follow the harvest.
From the Producers of the Academy-Award® Nominated film, WAR/DANCE and Executive Producer Eva Longoria, this award-winning documentary provides an intimate glimpse into the lives of these children who struggle to dream while working 12 – 14 hours a day, 7 days a week to feed America.

  
  
March 2012: Queen of the SunFrom the director of The Real Dirt on Farmer John comes a profound, alternative look at the tragic global bee crisis. Juxtaposing the catastrophic disappearance of bees with the mysterious world of the beehive, Queen of the Sun weaves an unusual and dramatic story of the heart-felt struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world. Featuring Michael Pollan, Gunther Hauk and Vandana Shiva, Queen of the Sun reveals both the problems and the solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.
In 1923, Rudolf Steiner, a scientist, philosopher & social innovator, predicted that in 80 to 100 years honeybees would collapse. His prediction has come true with Colony Collapse Disorder where bees are disappearing in mass numbers from their hives with no clear explanation. In an alarming inquiry into the insights behind Steiner’s prediction Queen of The Sun examines the global bee crisis through the eyes of biodynamic beekeepers, scientists, farmers, and philosophers. On a pilgrimage around the world, 10,000 years of beekeeping is unveiled, highlighting how our historic and sacred relationship with bees has been lost due to highly mechanized industrial practices. Featuring Michael Pollan, Vandana Shiva, Gunther Hauk and beekeepers around the world, Queen of The Sun weaves a dramatic story which uncovers the problems and solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.

  
  
April 2012: FarmageddonAmericans’ right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent ac-tion, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies, and seeks to figure out why.
Filmmaker Kristin Canty’s quest to find healthy food for her four children turned into an educational journey to discover why access to these foods was being threatened. What she found were policies that favor agribusiness and factory farms over small family-operated farms selling fresh foods to their communities. Instead of focusing on the source of food safety problems — most often the industrial food chain — policymakers and regulators implement and enforce solutions that target and often drive out of business small farms that have proven themselves more than capable of producing safe, healthy food, but buckle under the crushing weight of government regulations and excessive enforcement actions.
Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom, encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to preserve individuals’ rights to access food of their choice and farmers’ rights to produce these foods safely and free from unreasona-bly burdensome regulations. The film serves to put policymakers and regulators on notice that there is a growing movement of people aware that their freedom to choose the foods they want is in danger, a movement that is taking action with its dollars and its voting power to protect and preserve the dwindling number of family farms that are struggling to survive.

  
  
February 2012: Beer WarsIn America, size matters. The bigger you are, the more power you have, especially in the business world.
Director Anat Baron takes you on a no holds barred exploration of the U.S. beer industry that ultimately reveals the truth behind the label of your favorite beer. Told from an insider’s perspective, the film goes behind the scenes of the daily battles and all out wars that dominate one of America’s favorite industries.
Beer Wars begins as the corporate behemoths are being challenged by small, independent brewers who are shunning the status quo and creating innovative new beers. The story is told through 2 of these entrepreneurs – Sam and Rhonda – battling the might and tactics of Corporate America. We witness their struggle to achieve their American Dream in an industry dominated by powerful corporations unwilling to cede an inch.
This contemporary David and Goliath story is ultimately about keeping your integrity (and your family’s home) in the face of temptation. Beer Wars is a revealing and entertaining journey that provides unexpected and surprising turns and promises to change the world’s opinion on those infamous 99 bottles of beer on the wall.

  
  
January 2012: Chow DownOne man’s struggle to reverse his severe heart disease …. with diet.
“It’s very rare to get such insightful breakdowns of the human condition measured in a way that speaks across all backgrounds. There are no easy answers in changing diet, but there are solutions. “Chow Down” takes a realistic approach to the matter and should be required viewing for all adults in America.” – Anderson Vision

  
  
December 2011: Asparagus! Stalking the American LifeSpecial Screening with Filmmaker Q&A
For 30 years, Oceana County Michigan has been the Asparagus Capital of the World. Now its spear-struck residents and family farms take on the U.S. War on Drugs, Free Trade and a Fast Food Nation, all to save their beloved roots.
“This subtle but powerful film unveils intricate connections among community identity, family farming, national politics and international trade, while at the same time revealing the aplomb and good cheer of these indomitable, spear-struck Michiganders” – Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

  
  
September 2011: Two Angry MomsPart exposé, part “how-to”, Two Angry Moms chronicles the efforts of leaders in the fledgling better school food movement as they take on the system nationwide. Two Angry Moms showcases programs that connect the cafeteria with the classroom and connect our kids with the earth. Over the course of a school year, we see a coalition drive dramatic changes in one Westchester, NY school district.
Two Angry Moms shows not only on what is wrong with school food; it offers strategies for overcoming roadblocks and getting healthy, good tasting, real food into school cafeterias. The movie explores the roles the federal government, corporate interests, school administration and parents play in feeding our country’s school kids.
Read more about Two Angry Moms on their website: http://angrymoms.org/

  
  
May 2011: Bananas!Juan “Accidentes” Dominguez is on his biggest case ever. On behalf of twelve Nicaraguan banana workers he is tackling Dole Food in a ground-breaking legal battle for their use of a banned pesticide that was known by the company to cause sterility. Can he beat the giant, or will the corporation get away with it? In the suspenseful documentary BANANAS!*, filmmaker Fredrik Gertten sheds new light on the global politics of food.
Learn more at: http://www.bananasthemovie.com/