In observance of Earth Week, and in the spirit of positive films about food and farming, the Sustainable Food & Agriculture Program is the lead sponsor of Farm Film Fest at Images Cinema from Thursday, April 19 – Sunday, April 22. Free Admission!
Farm Film Fest is co-sponsored by the Williams College Sustainable Food & Agriculture Program, Storey Publishing, Williams College Center for Environmental Studies, and Images Cinema.
Schedule
Thursday, April 19
7pm: Urban Roots (93 minutes)
- Urban Roots follows the urban farming phenomenon in Detroit. Urban Roots is a timely, moving and inspiring film that speaks to a nation grappling with collapsed industrial towns and the need to forge a sustainable and prosperous future.
- From the Director’s Statement Wherever there is grass, there is a chance to put food on the table. And where there is a chance to put food on the table, there’s a chance for a new start. Now, all around the city of Detroit, a growing movement of urban farmers is changing the way people think about food—and life in the “D”. It took men like Henry Ford, William Durant, and Lee Iacocca to build this city, but it’s taken a bunch of strong willed self-taught urban farmers to save it. LINK
Friday, April 20
5:30pm: Family Film: Truck Farm (50 minutes)
- Truck Farm is a whimsical, musical film about urban agriculture. It’s a 1986 Dodge pickup with a mini-farm planted in the truck bed. Directed by Ian Cheney (King Corn), with music by Simon Beins. LINK
Saturday, April 21
10am: Family Film: Encore screening of Truck Farm (50 minutes)
11:30am: Local Film: Place of Stones (4 hours)
With filmmaker Sharon Wyrrick
- PLACE OF STONES: Food in Motion is a film document reflecting the dynamic nature of local food and farming in the Northern Berkshire community over the course of two years (2008 – 2010). Filmed and edited by Sharon Wyrrick, the footage follows some of the key players in the developing local food system in interviews, in the course of their everyday work, as well as in the challenges they face. Sharon calls PLACE OF STONES a film document as it does not tell a single story, but reflects the lives and commitments of a community hard at work creating a vibrant local food system. It allows viewers to spend a little time with these people, and get a feel for who they are and what they hope to do.
Place of Stones Intermission at 1:30pm: Local Foods Tasting (Details to come)
Sunday, April 22
1pm: Small Farm Rising (60 minutes)
With Filmmaker Ben Stechschulte, followed by reception
Showing with Grass to Cheese (5 minutes) A short documentary about the Nolan’s family-run dairy farm in Ohio and their venture into cheese making.
- Right now, in our back yards, a new generation of farmers is redefining agriculture in America. Small, modern, sustainable and rooted in the community, these local farms are in the forefront of a movement growing across the nation. A family owned and operated farm produces award-winning goat milk cheeses; a farm powered solely by horses provides members with a full diet year-round; and two youthful entrepreneurs run an organic vegetable farm.
- Small Farm Rising invites you to explore the sustainable practices, creative business models and deep connections to the communities of these three small farms in the shadow of the Adirondack Mountains. Experience one full growing season through the eyes of first-generation farmers as they enrich and enliven their rural communities. Filmed in New York’s Champlain Valley and Adirondack Mountains, this documentary explores the reinvention of small-scale agriculture in America, and the hard work and beauty found within that tradition. LINK