Earth to Mouth

Earth to Mouth

How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/earth_to_mouth

Director: | Producer: Yung Chang 

Produced | Country: USA

Run Time: 41 mins | Language: English Subtitles

Synopsis: Filmed at the Wing Fong Farm in Ontario, this documentary follows the tilling, planting and harvesting of Asian vegetables destined for Chinese markets and restaurants. On 80 acres of land, Lau King-Fai, her son and a half-dozen migrant Mexican workers care for the plants. For Yeung Kwan, her son, the farm represents personal and financial independence. For his mother, it is an oasis of peace. For the Mexican workers, it provides jobs that help support their children back home.

Opinion: 

Recommendation:

Ladies of the Land

Ladies of the Land 

How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/ladies_of_the_land

Director: | Producer: Megan Thompson 

Produced | Country: USA

Run Time: 29 mins | Language: English 

Synopsis: As small, family farms continue to disappear, and large, mechanized farms dominate American agriculture, a new kind of farmer is sprouting up across the land: women. Although women have always been involved in farming, it has long been thought of as a "man's job." Traditionally, farm women have often identified themselves as something other than the "farmer." That's all changing. According to the USDA, between 2002 and 2007, the number of women who identified themselves as farmers increased by 19 percent, and the number of women "principal operators" increased by 30 percent.

Today, there are about one million women farmers in the U.S. - 30 percent of the total. Women are a fast-growing demographic in American agriculture, and they are doing things differently. While the average farm size in the U.S. has grown dramatically over the last 50 years, women tend to run smaller operations. Many choose organic and natural methods.

Opinion: 

Recommendation:

Farm to Table

Farm to Table

How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/farm_to_table


Director: | Producer: The International Documentary Challenge is a timed filmmaking competition where filmmakers have 5 days to make a short non-fiction film

Produced | Country: USA

Run Time: 5 min | Language: English  

Synopsis: The story of how far our economic world has been separated from the natural world.

Opinion: Respect and imitate Mother Nature, go back to the past

Very simple message in a very short film.

Recommendation:

Ripe for Change

Ripe For Change

How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/ripe_for_change

Director: Emiko Omori | Producer: Jed Riffe

Produced | Country: United States 

Run Time: 54 Minutes | Language: English 

Synopsis: California -- always a fascinating marriage of opposite extremes -- is at a cross-roads in agriculture. Many Californians are struggling to fend off overdevelopment and the loss of farming lands and traditions while embracing innovative visions of agricultural sustainability. At the same time, California is where fast food was born and a center of the biotechnology industry and large corporate agribusiness. The debates raging in California over issues of food, agriculture, and sustainability have profound implications for all of America, especially in a world where scarcity is the norm and many natural resources are diminishing.

This fascinating documentary explores the intersection of food and politics in California over the last 30 years. It illuminates the complex forces struggling for control of the future of California's agriculture, and provides provocative commentary by a wide array of eloquent farmers, prominent chefs, and noted authors and scientists.
Opinion: The film examines a host of thorny questions: What are the trade-offs between the ability to produce large quantities of food versus the health of workers, consumers, and the planet? What are the hidden costs of "inexpensive" food? How do we create sustainable agricultural practices?

Recommendation:

Love Letter to Food (2014)

TITLE:  Love Letter to Food (2014)

Viewer (optional): Brian Rawson

How to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5i-dCv7O8o  

Director: | Producer: Univ of MN, Food Policy Research Center
Produced | Country: USA
Run Time:  3 mins 22 seconds   | Language: English

Synopsis:  Clever and compelling illustration of the problem of food waste

Opinion: Effective, entertaining.  And it features Oxfam Action Corps MN member, Liz Harper!

Recommendation: Show at GROW Method meals or when presenting on food waste.

Pregnant and Working in the Fields

Seven Months Pregnant and Working in the Fields 

How to view: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26154092

Director: | Producer: Sonia Narang 

Produced | Country: Nepal 

Run Time: 2 minutes 24 seconds  | Language: Nepali (English subtitles) 

Synopsis: Women in Nepal do the lion's share of agricultural work, and it's common for them to continue working in the fields throughout pregnancy. But this can seriously affect their health, and that of their unborn child.

Opinion: Read the fill article on the BBC page along with the video. 

U.S Food Aid Reform

U.S Food Aid Reform 101

How to view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Gv-o8BE44

Director: | Producer: Lisa Ferrell 
Produced | Country: United States
Run Time: 2.45minutes | Language: English 

Synopsis: Food aid reform can feed 4 million more people without costing the U.S. an extra dollar. Here's everything you need to know about food aid reform in just under 3 minutes. 

Opinion: U.S food aid has been critical in saving lives and addressing chronic poverty and malnutrition. But the current system, which requires shipping food from the U.S to hungry people in need, is outdated, inefficient and slow, risking lives when every moment counts. 


Recommendation:
Good introductory video for people who are new to the foreign aid reform. 

Bajo Aguán: The Clamor for Land

Bajo Aguán: The Clamor for Land 

How to view: http://www.albasud.org/video/en/22/bajo-aguan-grito-por-la-tierra-english-version

Viewer: Zhenxi 

Director: | Producer: Alba sud and Rel-UITA with the support of the The World Rainforest Movement (WRM), Food First International, The Coordination of Popular Organizations of the Aguán (COPA), Radio Universidad (UCA Nicaragua) anb Comitè de Empresa de Serveis Funeraris de Barcelona
Produced | Country: Honduras

Run Time: 30 minutes  
Language: (Spanish with English subtitles)

Synopsis: a film about one of the most violent regions in Honduras since the 2009 coup, where the country’s largest and wealthiest landowner, Miguel Facussé, has used extreme levels of violence to re-press peasant communities in order to expand his massive oil palm plantations. Since the coup, over 80 Aguán peasants and activists fighting for the right to land been murdered.

Opinion:
The film documented the struggle people in Bajo Aguan are facing by letting the people speak for themselves. It starts with an introduction to the military regime and follows up with the reality of farmer's lives after the resettlement. 
The film highlighted the cruelty and injustice in the region through people's narration. Through the interviews with the local activists, survivors and government officials, we get a holistic idea of the impacts the violence has caused. 

Good with documentation, but no suggestive actions. See hope but mostly depressing.

 Recommendation:

Good for motivational purpose. It leaves a powerful impression. However, the documentary does not link Oxfam's campaigns as the solutions to the problem. 

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The Food Bubble

The Food Bubble - Frederick Kaufman - 2010

How to view: http://www.archive.org/details/TheFoodBubble-FrederickKaufman-2010


Viewer: Zhenxi

Produced: 2010 |  
Country: USA
Run time: 14:04 | 
Language: English

Synopsis: 
Harper's contributing editor Frederick Kaufman on how Wall Street caused and profited on the "food crisis". interviwed by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.

Kaufman claims that the statistical data suggests that the increase in wheat price is not because of the insufficiency in supply but the financial transactions in the virtual market. Bankers and speculators used wheat and agricultural products as a means of investment for financial gains without considering its damaging effect to the agricultural sector. The market has become so corrupt that the federal regulations cannot keep up, and even outlawing the transaction will not be able to save the market. He's solution to the problem is to prepare a real wheat reserve, so that by the time a crisis hits the US, we can bring out the reserve to hold the price.

Opinion:
It explains the economic side of the rise in agricultural prices and the loopholes in domestic agricultural market. Good for those who are interested in finance and economics. Not directly linked to our targets in GROW campaign.

Recommendation:
Not suitable for showing at public events;
good for internal use;
insufficient link to the current campaign

La Via Campesina in Movement... Food Sovereignty Now!

La Via Campesina in Movement



Viewer: Zhenxi


How to view: http://vimeo.com/27473286; downloadable version available

Director: | Producer: La Via Campesina

Run Time: | Language: 20 min/ English

Synopsis: La Via Campesina is a social movement started in 1993 that advocates for small-scale farming and local consumption. This video shows the reality of the food production and the organization's effort in the movement.

Opinion: Not directly relevant to GROW campaign but good to learn about the movement.

Fresh

Viewer: Brittany Collins

Stream for free: http://www.thefutureoffood.com/onlinevideo.html


Director: Deborah Koons Garcia | Producer: Catherine Butler and Koons Garcia
Produced: 2004 | Country: United States
Run time: 1:29:00 | Language: English

Synopsis: The Future Of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

Opinion:

• Starts off with background information about how the food system has changed over the past couple of centuries
• Quickly transitions into how the Green Revolution became the Gene Revolution, setting the tone for a narrow focus on genetic engineering
• Lots of anti-GMO, especially anti-Monsanto segments, as well as explanations of how companies have patented living organisms 
• Interviews with farmers who have been sued by Monsanto for violating their patent
• Big focus on biotech revolution
• Mentions it is cheaper for Mexico to import corn from the U.S. than to grow its own because of U.S. subsidies
• U.S. subsidizes crops, Europe subsidizes farmers, Canada and Mexico subsidize neither
• University research can't challenge conventional wisdom (corporate control of genetic research)
• Mentions dangers of multinational companies continuing to consolidate the food system
• At around 1:10:00, states that world hunger is not about the amount of food (the people starving today used to be farmers themselves)
• Talks about local food, CSAs at the end

• Very heavily focused on issues of GMOs and patents
• Does not focus so much on the future as the title would suggest
• Much more problem-oriented than solution-oriented
• Outdated (7 years old)

Recommendation:

• Some segments may or may not be worth showing to Oxfam supporters
• Would have to update such figures as "800 million malnourished" (to 925 million)
• Not really the most appropriate film for Oxfam events
• Appropriate audience
• Easily understandable for anyone interested in the issues of GMOs and U.S. patents
• Does not align with Oxfam/GROW

Seeds of Hunger

Viewers: Brittany Collins and Brian Rawson

Stream for free: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/festival/play/5856/Seeds-of-Hunger (Must request individual viewing link)

About:

Director: Yves Billy & Richard Prost | Producer: Auteurs Associes

Produced: 2008 | Country: France
Run time: 52:26 | Language: English

Synopsis: The threat of famine and increasing food shortages is not going to go away; rather it is to the contrary.  Above and beyond the stock market phenomenon lies the problem of the decline in food production that now has a structural basis.  The demonstration is overwhelming, and forces on us the question: are we capable of avoiding the impending crash?

Opinion:

• Good film with great information
• Does a decent job of at least touching on most of the GROW campaign aspects

• Focuses too exclusively on problems rather than solutions (we want viewers to feel energized rather than defeated from the start)
• Underlying message is the issue of the globalization and industrialization of agriculture (not a focus of GROW)

Recommendation: 

• Show the first 15 minutes to lead into a discussion about the GROW campaign
• Good for showing for:
• People already involved in and aware of these issues (OAC organizers and committed volunteers rather than the general public)
• Raises lots of various questions only marginally related to or outside of GROW
• Does not explore the small-scale food producer perspective.