Bill Nye’s Food Web

Disney Educational Productions 2001
Screening at 9:15 am, 26 mins

Feeling a little hungry? Then grab a healthy snack and watch Bill get tangled up in the Food Web. . . maybe even get tangled up yourself. Join Bill on his humorous and antic-filled quest to demonstrate how, when it comes to eating, all living things depend on other living things to survive, AND, that all living things depend on plants. Concepts introduced include decomposers, photosynthesis, hydroponics, food chains and food pyramids. Correlated to National Science Education Standards for grades 4-8.

A Crack in the Pavement: Digging In

National Film Board of Canada US Release 2001
Screening at 9:45 am, 19 mins

Digging In is the second in an award-winning two-part series that shows children, teachers and parents how, working together to green their school grounds, they can make positive changes in their surrounding communities as well.

This sequel to Growing Dreams follows students from Toronto’s Jesse Ketchum School as they take steps towards the greening of their schoolyard, and learn valuable lessons about the benefits of restoring nature, beauty, shade, improved air quality, softer play surfaces, and increased wildlife to their school grounds.

What’s On Your Plate?

Aubin Pictures 2009
Screening at 10:30 am, 76 mins

“Exactly the film we need right now.” Michael Pollan, author of Food Rules and The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

What’s On Your Plate? is a witty and provocative documentary about kids and food politics. Over the course of one year, the film follows two eleven-year-old multiracial city kids as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah talk to food activists, farmers, and storekeepers, as they address questions regarding the origin of the food they eat, how it’s cultivated, and how many miles it travels from farm to fork.

Sadie and Safiyah visit supermarkets, fast food chains, and school lunchrooms. But they also check out innovative sustainable food system practices by going to farms, greenmarkets, and community supported agriculture (CSA) programs. They discover that these options have a number of positive effects: they are good for the environment, help struggling farmers survive, and provide affordable, locally grown food to communities, especially lower-income urban families.

What’s On Your Plate? has been an official selection of many prestigious film festivals and has screened in dozens of communities across the U.S. as well as in Europe and Asia since its release.

Truck Farm

Wicked Delicate Films 2011
Screening at 12:30 pm, 50 mins

“How do you grow your own food in the big city if you ain’t got no land?” Easy – do what these Brooklynites did and start a Truck Farm! True, you don’t usually think “1986 Dodge Ram when you think “green vehicle“, but this pickup with ripe rows of arugula, lettuce, broccoli, herbs, tomatoes and habaneros thriving right in its flatbed, is definitely an exception. To make matters even more awesome, “four-wheel farmer” Ian Cheney and his partner Curt Ellis of Wicked Delicate, have even been documenting their automofarm in a series of musical, lyric-accompanied, video shorts (“The recession was upon me, my health was slipping away. I decided what I needed, was more vegetables everyday.”) resulting in both hilarity and a cult-like following as they spread love (and broccoli) around New York City.

Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms

Kristin Canty 2011
Screening at 1:30 pm, 90 mins

Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom, encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to preserve individuals’ rights to access food of their choice and farmers’ rights to produce these foods safely and free from unreasona-bly burdensome regulations. The film serves to put policymakers and regulators on notice that there is a growing movement of people aware that their freedom to choose the foods they want is in danger, a movement that is taking action with its dollars and its voting power to protect and preserve the dwindling number of family farms that are struggling to survive.

Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?

Collective Eye 2009
Screening at 3:15 pm, 82 mins

Queen of The Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is an in-depth investigation to discover the causes and solutions behind Colony Collapse Disorder; a phenomenon where honeybees vanish from their hives, never to return. Queen of The Sun follows the voices and visions of underrepresented beekeepers, philosophers, and scientists around the world, all struggling for the survival of the bees. While other bee films focus exclusively on commercial beekeepers, this film emphasizes the biodynamic and organic communities who have differing opinions from many commercial beekeepers and are overlooked in other films.

Ingredients

Optic Nerve Productions 2009
Screening at 4:45 pm, 67 mins

Inspiring and rich, INGREDIENTS unearths the roots of the local food movement and digs into the stories of the world-class chefs, sustainability-minded farmers and impassioned activists transforming our broken food system.