Heartland Local Food (2020)

Documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner examines how mammoth corporations have taken over all aspects of the food chain in the United States, from the farms where our food is grown to the chain restaurants and supermarkets where it's sold. Narrated by author and activist Eric Schlosser, the film features interviews with average Americans about their dietary habits, commentary from food experts like Michael Pollan and unsettling footage shot inside large-scale animal processing plants.

Sheds light on an alternative approach to farming called “regenerative agriculture” that could balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies, and feed the world.

This documentary takes a piercing investigative look at the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee. The film examines our current agricultural landscape and celebrates the ancient and sacred connection between man and the honeybee. The story highlights the positive changes that have resulted due to the tragic phenomenon known as "Colony Collapse Disorder." To empower the audience, the documentary provides viewers with tangible solutions they can apply to their everyday lives. Vanishing of the Bees unfolds as a dramatic tale of science and mystery, illuminating this extraordinary crisis and its greater meaning about the relationship between humankind and Mother Earth. The bees have a message - but will we listen?

A young woman leaves the city to return to her hometown in the countryside. Seeking to escape the hustle and bustle of the city, she becomes self-sufficient in a bid to reconnect with nature.

This Oscar-winning animated short film tells the story of one man's love life as seen through the eyes of his best friend and dog, Winston, and revealed bite by bite through the meals they share.

King Corn is a fun and crusading journey into the digestive tract of our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial, pesticide-laden, heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food pyramid from top to bottom – corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naiveté, two college buddies return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa to figure out how a modest kernel conquered America. With the help of some real farmers, oodles of fertilizer and government aide, and some genetically modified seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the hilarious absurdities and scary but hidden truths about America’s modern food system in this engrossing and eye-opening documentary.

都会に出たものの馴染めないでいたいち子（橋本愛）は、故郷である東北地方の小さな集落・小森に戻ってくる。山に囲まれた小森の周辺にはスーパーやコンビニはないため、畑で農作物を作ったり、野山で季節のものを採ってきたりして、自給自足に近い生活をしなければならない。山の恵みを使って、夏にはグミジャムや岩魚の塩焼き、秋はくるみごはんや栗の渋皮煮などを作るいち子。もちろん自然には厳しさもある。季節の移ろいを感じ、ふと立ち止まって自分自身と向き合いながら、いち子はおいしいものを食べて次の一歩を踏み出す勇気を得ていく。

With dazzling nature photography, Academy Award®–nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full) takes a global examination of endangered honeybees — spanning California, Switzerland, China and Australia — more ambitious than any previous work on the topic.

“小森”は東北のとある村の中の小さな集落。いち子（橋本愛）は、一度街に出て男の人と暮らしてみたものの、自分の居所を見つけられずに、1人でここに戻ってきた。“言葉はあてにならないけど、わたしの体が感じたことなら信じられる”と、何事も自分でやってみないと気が済まない性格のいち子は、稲を育て、畑仕事をし、周りの野山で採った季節の食材を料理して食事を取る毎日を過ごしている。そんな静かなある日、彼女の元に1通の手紙が届く。それは、5年前の雪の日に突然失踪した母・福子（桐島かれん）からだった。甘酒とカボチャを使って作った3色ケーキ、子供の頃から大好きな出来立てアツアツの納豆もち、ふきのとうでつくるばっけ味噌……。母のレシピを料理しながら思う。“私は母さんにとって本当に家族だったろうか……。”今までの自分、そしてこれからの自分を思い、心が揺れ始める。親友キッコ（松岡茉優）との小さな口げんかでは、“私は、ちゃんと向き合えなくて、それで小森に帰ってきたんだな……”と落ち込む。さらに、小森のこれからを真剣に考えるユウ太（三浦貴大）からは、“いち子ちゃんは1人で一生懸命やっててすごいなと思うけど、本当は逃げてるんじゃないの”と指摘され、言葉を返せない。長かった冬も終わりに近づき、雪解けが進んできた。少しづつ畑の準備を進めてきたものの、いち子は春一番で植えるジャガイモを、今年は植えるかどうか迷っていた。来年の冬、ここにはいないかもしれないから……。自分の本当の居場所を探すいち子が、春の訪れと共に出した答えとは……。

For ancient Mayans, cocoa was as good as gold. For subsistence farmer Eladio Pop, his cocoa crops are the only riches he has to support his wife and 15 children. As he wields his machete with ease, slicing a path to his cocoa trees, the small jungle plot he cultivates in southern Belize remains pristine and wild. His dreams for his children to inherit the land and the traditions of their Mayan ancestors present a familiar challenge. The kids feel their father's philosophies don't fit into a global economy, so they're charting their own course. Rohan Fernando's direction tenderly displays a generational shift, causalities of progress in modern times and a man valiantly protecting an endangered culture. Breathtaking vistas of lush rainforests contrast with the urban dystopia that pulled Pop’s children away from him. Will one child return to carry on a waning way of life

FRESH is more than a movie, it’s a gateway to action. Our aim is to help grow FRESH food, ideas, and become active participants in an exciting, vibrant, and fast-growing movement.

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. For the first time in history, our children'€™s generation is expected to have a shorter lifespan than our own. The quality, taste and nutritional value of the food we eat has dropped sharply over the last fifty years. Shipped from ever-greater distances, we have literally lost sight of where our food comes from and in the process, we've lost a vital connection to our local community and to our health.

A look at man's relationship with Dirt. Dirt has given us food, shelter, fuel, medicine, ceramics, flowers, cosmetics and color --everything needed for our survival. For most of the last ten thousand years we humans understood our intimate bond with dirt and the rest of nature. We took care of the soils that took care of us. But, over time, we lost that connection. We turned dirt into something "dirty." In doing so, we transform the skin of the earth into a hellish and dangerous landscape for all life on earth. A millennial shift in consciousness about the environment offers a beacon of hope - and practical solutions.

Local, organic, and sustainable are words we associate with food production today, but 40 years ago, when Fran and Tony McQuail started farming in Southwestern Ontario, they were barely spoken. Since 1973, the McQuails have been helping to build the organic farming community and support the next generation of organic farmers. This is a documentary about the McQuails that explores the very real ways their farm has contributed to the long term ecological viability of agriculture in Ontario. It is a call to action for all those who believe there is a better way to take care of our planet and feed the world.