Farms on Film

Two documentaries raise awareness for "Buy Fresh, Buy Local"

by Mary Wilson

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Published: Jul 18, 2007

screening

While politicians butt heads over global warming, bloated health-care premiums, rampant obesity and malnutrition, many small farmers are quietly offering a simple solution to it all: Eat locally grown food. This vision is the subject of two documentary short films screening this Sunday at White Dog Cafe to raise awareness for their "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" campaign.

"I eat food every day," says filmmaker and Philadelphia native Rich Hoffman, "but I rarely know where it comes from. Was it grown here in Pennsylvania, or somewhere in Peru? How many gallons of gas did it take to get it to me? Have fish or bacteria genes been spliced into the seeds? And what about the [farm workers] � did they make a fair wage? When I became a father, these questions multiplied."

With time-lapse photography of budding crops providing an intimate organic backdrop, Hoffman's Fridays at the Farm echoes the concerns that more and more people are beginning to address. The 19-minute film documents his family's decision to join a small community supported agriculture (CSA) farm by their home in Media. Hoffman isn't a farmer, but the experience motivated him to take up the cause. Tapping his filmmaking background (he runs the small, independent production company Coyopa), Fridays at the Farm weaves a simple, heartfelt and highly personal narrative and raises questions that many people are beginning to ask about their food.

As it turns out, the CSA farm produces more than just vegetables. It also provides a community � one with shared concerns about health, sustainability and a lifestyle interconnected with the stuff that fuels it. His family gets to watch their food grow pesticide-free ("After all, if the bugs won't eat the vegetables, why should we?") and his young son learns firsthand where dinner comes from. But, as Hoffman recognizes, those simple joys are a privilege not everyone can afford.

"We are fortunate enough to be able to afford food that doesn't rely on pesticides," he says. "But I do firmly believe that access to pure food should be a basic human right granted to everyone on the planet. Just 100 years ago, it was."

What Will We Eat? The Search For Healthy, Local Food, a 26-minute film by activist and filmmaker Chris Bedford, explains that change. Bedford, who will attend the screening along with Hoffman, helped found Sweetwater Local Foods Market in Muskegon, Mich. � the first farmers market in that state to sell only locally grown products. This film tells that story, the story of industrial agriculture that preceded it and brings in scientists to explain why, exactly, we shouldn't treat our soil like a factory production line. But experts aside, it's hard to watch surplus World War II chemicals being dumped on America's food supply and not be convinced.

(editorial@citypaper.net)

Buy Fresh Buy Local Week: 2 Short Films

Sun., July 22, 5 p.m. a la carte dinner, 7 p.m. screening, free, White Dog Cafe, 3420 Sansom St., 215-386-9224, www.whitedog.com.

 

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