THE MESSENGER: Director, Sue Rynard. Canada 2015
- The Messenger is an artful investigation into the causes of songbird mass depletion and the compassionate people who are working to turn the tide. The film takes viewers on a visually stunning journey revealing how the problems facing birds also pose daunting implications for our planet and ourselves.
- The Messenger is a visually thrilling ode to the beauty and importance of the imperilled songbird, and what it means to all of us on both a global and human level if we lose them.
THE BAREFOOT ARTIST: Directors, Glenn Holsten & Daniel Traub. USA 2014 83mins
THE BAREFOOT ARTIST chronicles the long and colourful life of Lily Yeh, an artist who has committed herself to creating community-based art projects in some of the world’s most troubled areas.
Beginning with the creation of an unprecedented sculpture garden in North Philly that became known as “The Village of Arts and Humanities”, the film also shows Yeh working in far-flung locations such as Kenya and Rwanda, where she teaches survivors of war and calamity to make murals and build sculptures drawn from their own experience. Working with Yeh on these projects, they are able to regain hope, a sense of purpose, and a belief that life can be about creation as well as destruction.
TEACH ME TO BE WILD: Directors, Rajesh Krishnan & Anne Veh. USA 2017 58mins
TEACH ME TO BE WILD explores the work of Wildlife Associates, a sanctuary in Northern California, where injured, non-releasable wild animals become Wild Teachers and are helping heal generations of hurt children. The traumatic histories of the creatures, who range from an Andean condor to a two-toed sloth, often parallel those of the at-risk youth who visit.
Unexpected connections have forged that ripple into stories of transformation. Founded by Steve Karlin, a former park ranger whose greatest mentors were a 330-pound American black bear and a pair of robins, the sanctuary’s work recalls us to our true place in Nature’s web. With intimate access to the animals, their caregivers, workshop facilitators and their spirited students, this film captures the magic that transpires where wounded children and their Wild Teachers meet.
HOLDING UP THE SKY: Directors, Russ Pariseau and James Giambrone. Nepal 2014 46mins. Q&A Russ Pariseau
An inspiring film about 7 Nepali women and 3 African “sisters” who climbed Kilimanjaro on International Women’s Day in 2013. Their mission was to call attention to the challenges girls and young women face growing up in traditional patriarchal societies of the developing world. The physical challenges of the Kilimanjaro climb parallel the individual stories each woman relates to overcoming “gender obstacles” growing up.
THE WORM IS TURNING: Directors, Hilary Bain & Asa Mark. USA 2015 1hr 43mins
THE WORM IS TURNING connects the dots on global food issues, shows the consequences of chemical agriculture, and that small ecological farms actually can feed more people better and at the same time restore the environment.
Filmed on location in India, USA, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia, THE WORM IS TURNING shows with examples of ecological farming, the possibilities of producing food as well as restoring the environment. This means more jobs, jobs with meaning and connection to nature, and an agriculture that is truly sustainable.
Featuring Vandana Shiva, Joel Salatin, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Raj Patel, Winona LaDuke, Bob Cannard, Will Allen, Bhaskar Save, Meriel Watts, Devinder Sharma, P.V. Satheesh, Olivier De Schutter and many more.
“We’re eating World War 2’s leftovers!” says Vandana Shiva.
For the past 70 years chemical agriculture has been the biggest war on earth, as agriculture is the largest activity on the planet. After 40 years of chemical agriculture introduced as the Green Revolution, in the Indian Punjab we see a dying, poisoned land: there are fields as far as the eye can see of dead soil, no trees, no birds, no insects, and polluted water and air.
This is the story of how agribusiness is taking over the world’s food production and destroying democracy. Revealed through historical archival footage and filmed on location in India, USA, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia, THE WORM IS TURNING is a must see film for those who want to inform themselves and their communities – and stop this war on life.
There’s nothing more powerful than a well-informed public.
QUESTIONS TO THE FILMMAKERS:
- Why did you make the film?
- When I realised the extent of pesticides used, and where they come from, I was shocked. I had assumed that if they are toxic, surely there would be some regulation in place. The lack of regulation was the second shock. These chemicals are highly toxic, even in very small amounts. Whole ecosystems are being destroyed by growing food this way. If people knew they would be shocked too.
- What is the most shocking thing you realised from making the film?
The very deep connection there is between modern agriculture and war. - What was the most challenging aspect of making the film?
Taking on such a huge subject, food production, it being the biggest activity on the planet, and to connect the dots on global food issues, and showing why such a toxic, destructive way of producing food dominates the world. - Why was it important for you to connect the dots?
There’s a lot of corporate interests out there that want to keep things complex and separated, it’s a way to confuse and compartmentalise so they can sell you their products. There’s a lot of misinformation too. I wanted to clarify by connecting dots, as a way to understand what is going on and be able to make informed choices of where your food comes from. - Why is organic more expensive than conventional [chemical] food?
Price is the real clincher for most people’s food choice, ie whether to buy organic or not. If there is that choice in their supermarket since 96% of food sold in the US is grown using chemicals. The government subsidizes chemical agriculture, by giving medium and large sized farmers a stipend. Then huge grain corporations purchase the crops for less than it cost the farmer to grow it. That’s how the huge food companies can produce cheap food. The question needs to be rephrased; Why is conventional food cheap? and Why should anybody have to eat food grown using toxic chemicals? - Why is the focus of the film on India and the USA? The chemical agriculture that dominates the world comes from the USA, and it was exported to the world as the so-called Green Revolution. When big corporate monoculture took over in America, farmers where pushed off the land. The same is happening in India today. There’s still 600 million people on the land in India farming, and the plan is to push 500 million of them into cities. This is exactly the opposite of what is needed for food security. We need people on the land to feed more people better. In study after study from the UN it is clear, small ecological farms are in fact more productive than big monoculture farms.