John Papola and Lisa Versaci/2016/90 min/Food-Agriculture

Saturday, March 4, 2:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park

FILM DESCRIPTION: Filmmaker and omnivore John Papola, together with his vegetarian wife Lisa, offer up a timely and refreshingly unbiased look at how farm animals are raised for our consumption. With unprecedented access to large-scale conventional farms, Papola asks the tough questions behind every hamburger, glass of milk and baby-back rib. What he discovers are not heartless industrialists, but America’s farmers — real people who, along with him, are grappling with the moral dimensions of farming animals for food. 

Delila Vallot/2015/84 min/Food-Agriculture

Saturday, March 4, 3 p.m. [West]
Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago

Tuesday, March 7, 7 p.m. [South]
St. Paul & the Redeemer Church, Chicago

FILM DESCRIPTION:  South Los Angeles. What comes to mind is gangs, drugs, liquor stores, abandoned buildings and vacant lots. The last thing that you would expect to find is a beautiful garden sprouting up through the concrete, coloring the urban landscape. Calling for people to put down their guns and pick up their shovels, these "gangster gardeners" are creating an oasis in the middle of one of the most notoriously dangerous places in America.

Jeremy Seifert/2009/53 min/Waste

SOLD OUT!
VIEW AND BREW [Downtown]
Sunday, March 12, 12:30 p.m.
Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Chicago

FILM DESCRIPTION: Inspired by a curiosity about our country's careless habit of sending food straight to landfills, the multi award-winning documentary DIVE! follows filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of Los Angeles' supermarkets. In the process, they salvage thousands of dollars worth of good, edible food - resulting in an inspiring documentary that is equal parts entertainment, guerilla journalism and call to action. 

Leo Horrigan and Mike Milli/2016/36 min/Food-Agriculture

Wednesday, March 8, 7 p.m. [South]
Harper Theater, Chicago

CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Food Frontiers showcases six projects from around the United States that are increasing access to healthy food in varied ways – from a pioneering farm-to-school project to creative supermarket financing to cooking classes in a doctor’s office and a teen-managed grocery store.

Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette/2013/60 min/Food-Agriculture

Saturday, March 4, 12 p.m. [West]
Chicago Public Library, Austin Branch

FILM DESCRIPTION: Take road trip with the filmmakers to meet the men and women who are challenging the way this country grows and distributes its food, one vacant city lot, rooftop garden, and backyard chicken coop at a time. Join them as they discover that good food isn’t the only crop these urban visionaries are harvesting. Urban farmers are producing stronger and more vibrant communities, too.

Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz/2016/93 min/Food-Agriculture

Monday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. [North]
North Shore Country Day, Winnetka

FILM DESCRIPTION: In our modern world, seeds are in grave danger. In less than a century of industrial agriculture, our once abundant seed diversity—painstakingly created by ancient farmers and gardeners over countless millennia—has been drastically winnowed down to a handful of mass-produced varieties. Under the spell of industrial “progress” and lust for profit, our quaint family farmsteads have given way to mechanized agribusinesses sowing genetically identical crops on a monstrous scale. 

Pamela Tanner Boll/ 2015/71 min/ People-Culture

Sunday, March 5, 12:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
St. Giles Catholic Church, Oak Park

Sunday, March 5, 3:30p.m. [North]
Wilmette Theatre, Wilmette

CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: For the longest time, we’ve been living as though the more we have—the more money, the more goods, the more territory—the happier we’ll be. Surprisingly, over the last fifty years as our standard of living has improved, our happiness has not. A Small Good Thing examines how our ideal of the American Dream has come to the end of its promise. The film tells the stories of people moving away from a philosophy of ‘more is better’ toward a more holistic conception of happiness — one based on a close connection to their bodies and health, to the natural world, and to the greater good.

Matt Wechsler/2016/92 min/Food-Agriculture

Saturday, March 4, 10 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Lake Theatre, Oak Park

FILM DESCRIPTION: A vital investigation of the economic and environmental instability of America’s food system, from the agricultural issues we face — soil loss, water depletion, climate change, pesticide use — to the community of leaders who are determined to fix it. Sustainable is a film about the land, the people who work it and what must be done to sustain it for future generations.

Alejandro Ramirez Anderson/2014/60 min/Social Justice

Saturday, March 11, 12 p.m. [Pilsen]
Lincoln United Methodist Church, Pilsen

SPANISH SOUNDTRACK WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES: In the district of Alamar, a 26-acre farming co-op provides employment for dozens of workers, while producing vegetables and medicinal plants for the local community and beyond. What began as necessity—farming without pesticides and chemical fertilizers—has become a source of provision to coop members. They fertilize with compost and cow manure, raise their own insects for biological pest control, and have even created a fully biodegradable alternative to the plastic bag for use with seedlings.

Melanie Laurent and Cyril Dion/2015/115 min/Environmental Advocacy

Sunday, March 5, 2 p.m. [South]
Windsor Park Lutheran Church, Chicago

CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Showing solutions, telling a feel-good story… this may be the best way to solve the ecological, economical and social crises that our countries are going through. After a special briefing for the journal Nature announced the possible extinction of a part of mankind before the end of the 21st century, Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent, together with a team of four people, carried out an investigation in ten different countries to figure out what may lead to this disaster and above all how to avoid it.

John Murray/ 2015/ 74 min/ Food & Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: A Farmer’s Road is a documentary about changing the American food system one meal at a time. At the heart of A Farmer’s Road is a story of how two PhD soil scientists traded the security of academic tenure at a major research university for the relentless challenges and economic uncertainty of operating a Grade A goat dairy and farmstead creamery in central Illinois.

Susan Rockefeller/ 2014/ 22 min/ Food, Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: A short documentary film, Food for Thought, Food for Life, educates people about the negative impact our current methods of agriculture have on the earth. In addition to providing vital information, the film gives viewers the necessary tools to make a difference in their own lives. It explores the connection between the planet and our health and suggests that strengthening that connection will only benefit our future.

Jeff & Jennifer Spitz/ 2014/ 73 min/ Food, Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: A midwestern mother whose son nearly died from contaminated food embarks on a roller coaster journey to understand the food industry and improve her family’s eating habits. Surprising, funny, and poignant, this personal film unfolds from one family’s story into a powerful consumer movement. Food Patriotsfeatures food advocates from all walks of life who are trying to hatch a revolution to change the way Americans eat and buy food and educate the next generation of consumers.

JLove Calderón/ 2015/ 13 min/ Food & Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: Organic gardener and vegan chef Ietef Vita is an award winning international recording artist and activist who uses Hip-Hop culture to inspire young people to connect to the earth by teaching them how to grow food and cultivate healthy eating habits. Through his lyrics and gardens, Ietef is planting the seeds of the food movement extending from his hometown of Denver, Colo., toacross the globe.

Jen Rustemeyer/ 2014/ 75 min/ Food & Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: An award-winning documentary about the staggering amounts of food that go to waste in households and farm fields, “Just Eat It” was one of three audience favorites in the online balloting that began the weekend of One Earth Film Festival 2015. A five-person jury screened three films, reaching the decision to select “Just Eat It” as One Earth Film Festival 2015 First Choice winner.

Gary Paul Nabhan/ 2015/ 8 min/ Food, Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: What goes on behind the scenes of the food system in the United States? What problems do we face? Man in the Maze showcases a diverse group of people, throughout the US borderlands, who come up with innovative solutions to mend our broken food system.

Nelson Campbell/ 2015/ 95 min/ Food, Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: The documentary film Plant Pure Nation tells the story of three people on a quest to spread the message of one of the most important health breakthroughs of all time. After renowned nutritional scientist and bestselling author, T. Colin Campbell, gives a stirring speech on the floor of the Kentucky House of Representatives, his son, Nelson, and Kentucky State Representative, Tom Riner, work together to propose a pilot program documenting the health benefits of a plant-based diet. Once the legislation goes into Committee, agribusiness lobbyists kill the plan.

Sandy McLeod/ 2013/ 77 min/ Food, Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: A 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. Visit Seeds of Time official site.

Peter Byck/ 2014/ 12 min/ Food, Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: Meet Allen Williams, Gabe Brown and Neil Dennis – heroes and innovators! These ranchers now know how to regenerate their soils while making their animals healthier and their operations more profitable. They are turning on their soils, enabling rainwater to sink into the earth rather than run off. And these turned on soils retain that water, so the ranches are much more resilient in drought. Soil Carbon Cowboys is an amazing story that has just begun.

Lisa Merton and Alan Dater/ 2008/ 81 min/Food, Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy—a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.

Dan Susman/2013/60 min/Food & Agriculture

In their search for answers, filmmakers Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette take a road trip and meet the men and women who are challenging the way this country grows and distributes its food, one vacant city lot, rooftop garden, and backyard chicken coop at a time. Join them as they discover that good food isn’t the only crop these urban visionaries are harvesting. They’re producing stronger and more vibrant communities, too.

Uli H. Streckerbach/ 2012/ 6 min/ Food & Agriculture

This animated film tells the reality of soil resources around the world, covering the issues of degradation, urbanization, land grabbing and overexploitation; the film offers options to make the way we manage our soils more sustainable.

Markus Imhoof/ 2013/ 95 min/ Food & Agriculture

Over the past 15 years, numerous colonies of bees have been decimated throughout the world, but the causes of this disaster remain unknown. Depending on the world region, 50% to 90% of all local bees have disappeared, and this epidemic is still spreading from beehive to beehive – all over the planet. Everywhere, the same scenario is repeated: billions of bees leave their hives, never to return. 

Brandi Fullwood/2013/6 minutes/ Food & Agriculture

Miya’s Sushi is a short film that showcases the use of invasive species in sushi, focusing on how the culinary arts impact environmental conscious.

Mark Hall/2012/75 min/ Food & Agriculture

ushi, a cuisine formerly found only in Japan, has grown exponentially in other nations, and an industry has been created to support it. In a rush to please a hungry public, the expensive delicacy has become common and affordable, appearing in restaurants, supermarkets and even fast food trailers. The traditions requiring 7 years of apprenticeship in Japan have given way to quick training and mass-manufactured solutions elsewhere. This hunger for sushi has led to the depletion of apex predators in the ocean, including bluefin tuna, to such a degree that it has the potential to upset the ecological balance of the world’s oceans, leading to a collapse of all fish species.

Mark MacInnis/ 2011/ 94 min/ Food & Agriculture

URBAN ROOTS is a documentary that tells the story of the spontaneous emergence of urban farming in the city of Detroit. Detroit, once an industrial powerhouse of a lost American era, is a city devastated by the loss of half its population due to the collapse of manufacturing. By the looks of it, the city has died. But now, against all odds, in the empty lots, in the old factory yards, and in-between the sad, sagging blocks of company housing, seeds of change are taking root.

Richard Hoffman/ 2013/ 38 min/ Food & Agriculture

FILM INFORMATION: Watermelon Magic is like no other film. It’s a sweet combination of story and science and the first big screen film devoted one of our most basic human needs: healthy food. International audiences will delight in this nearly wordless burst of color and music. Weaving together documentary and narrative elements, Watermelon Magic chronicles a season on the family farm, as young Sylvie grows a patch of watermelons to sell at market. How will she let her babies go?

Marc Francis and Nick Francis/2006/78 min/Food & Agriculture

Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.  But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields. 

Jeff & Jennifer Spitz/ 2014/ 73 min/ Food & Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: A midwestern mother whose son nearly died from contaminated food embarks on a roller coaster journey to understand the food industry and improve her family’s eating habits. Surprising, funny, and poignant, this personal film unfolds from one family’s story into a powerful consumer movement. Food Patriots features food advocates from all walks of life who are trying to hatch a revolution to change the way Americans eat and buy food and educate the next generation of consumers.

Jeffrey Smith & Institute for Responsible Technology/2012/85 min/Food & Agriculture

Shocking. Life-Changing. You won’t look at food the same way again. Genetic Roulette exposes the dirt behind Big-Biotech’s Big failed experiment. Never-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. 

Robert Bates/2009/67 min/Food & Agriculture

American food is in a state of crisis, but a movement to put good food back on the table is emerging.  What began 30 years ago with chefs demanding better flavor, has inspired consumers to seek relationships with nearby farmers. This is local food. At 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. 

Byron Hurt/2011/63 min/Food & Agriculture

Soul Food Junkies explores the health advantages and disadvantages of Soul Food, a quintessential American cuisine. Soul food will also be used as the lens to investigate the dark side of the food industry and the growing food justice movement that has been born in its wake.

Jeff & Jennifer Spitz/ 2014/ 73 min/ Food & Agriculture

A midwestern mother whose son nearly died from contaminated food embarks on a roller coaster journey to understand the food industry and improve her family’s eating habits. Surprising, funny, and poignant, this personal film unfolds from one family’s story into a powerful consumer movement. Food Patriots features food advocates from all walks of life who are trying to hatch a revolution to change the way Americans eat and buy food and educate the next generation of consumers.

Ana Sofia Joanes/2009/70 min/Food & Agriculture

FRESH 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. 

Ruby Yang/2010/39 min/Food & Agriculture

Villagers in central China take on a chemical company that is poisoning their land and water. For five years they fight to transform their environment and as they do, they find themselves transformed as well. 

Catherine Gund/2010/76 min/Food & Agriculture

Whats on Your Plate? is a witty and provocative documentary produced and directed by award-winning Catherine Gund about kids and food politics. Filmed over the course of one year, the film follows two eleven-year-old multi-racial city kids as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah take a close look at food systems in New York City and its surrounding areas. With the camera as their companion, the girl guides talk to each other, food activists, farmers, new friends, storekeepers, their families, and the viewer, in their quest to understand what’s on all of our plates.