This year, we’re hosting our inaugural film festival in the days leading up to Farm Aid 30! Film2FarmAid, presented by Farm Aid, McCormick Place, and Savor…Chicago will run Tuesday, Sept. 15, through Thursday, Sept. 17, and will showcase 15 feature and short films about food and agriculture at McCormick Place. McCormick Place is the largest convention center in North America. It also features the largest rooftop farm in the Midwest, which is a partnership between Savor…Chicago and the Chicago Botanic Garden. The farm was created to promote local sustainable agriculture and to train city residents for careers in urban agriculture.
A brief Q&A session comprising filmmakers, local farmers and food activists will follow the film screenings on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, a panel discussion will feature local family farmers; Carolyn Mugar, Farm Aid’s executive director; and Sarah Vogel, lead counsel in Coleman v. Block, a national class action that stopped farm foreclosures and is featured in the closing scene of the film Country. Also each evening, a post-screening reception will feature local foods, beer and wine at the rooftop farm at McCormick Place.
Film2FarmAid 2015 showcases short and feature documentary and narrative films from around the country. These films reveal a broad array of locations and situations, told in many different styles.
But what unifies these stories is that they are each portraits of people working hard to improve their own lives and those of their families, to revitalize their communities, and perhaps, to change the world. They hail from remote rural landscapes, modern suburbs, and dense urban centers, and they represent many backgrounds and ages…but in each case, they possess curiosity, passion, and a drive to forge new solutions.
We hope that this festival sparks new conversation about what it means to be a farmer today, and the role each of us can play to work together to re-imagine and grow a healthy, just, and resilient food system for the future.
Films scheduled for screening include:
- Country, directed by Richard Pearce and written and produced by William Wittliff
- Dryland, by Sue Arbuthnot and Richard Wilhelm
- Brookford Almanac, by Cozette Russell
- The Last Barn Dance, by Ted Richardson and Jason Arthurs
- Food Patriots, by Jeff Spitz
- Food Forward: Urban Farming, by Greg Roden
- Century Farm, by Melissa Gregory Rue
- Isabelle’s Garden, by Jeffrey Palmer
- A Chicago Ranch, by Donald Jay O’Brien
- Harmony Gardens, by Solomon Horner
- A Greene Generation, by Tim Alden Grant
- Food Hero: Kristin Carbone, by Shalini Kantayya and Real Food Media Project
- Bread, by Dustin Hughes
- The Berry Picker, by Allison Milligan
- Our Work is Life, by Luke McKinley
Click here for more information and to purchase tickets to the festival
