"Living Downstream" Coming to Chicago on Illinois Screening Tour

Happy October! We're excited to announce that the documentary film Living Downstream is coming to Chicago this month on a multi-city screening tour. This must-see film is based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Dr. Sandra Steingraber. It follows Sandra across North America as she works to break the silence about cancer and its environmental links.

Handsomely photographed and powerfully argued… Steingraber's scientific cool and unflagging sense of mission make for an arresting portrait of a self-styled modern-day Rachel Carson.

     - Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post (04/23/10)

Each screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Dr. Sandra Steingraber and filmmaker Chanda Chevannes. The Chicago event will be held on October 19th at 7pm at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Advance tickets available online or by phone from Brown Paper Tickets or in person at Women and Children First bookstore. Hope to see you there!

Films We Like: Mr. Okra

Take a minute to enjoy this trailer for Mr. Okra, a 10-minute short film from Nom de Guerre Films that I discovered this morning. The film follows Mr. Okra (aka Arthur Robinson), a New Orleans man who sells fresh fruit and veggies from the back of a truck.

From the film synopsis:

"In a city known for its music and food…and its characters, Mr. Okra travels the back streets of the Bywater, Tremé and 9th ward, selling his vegetables from his iconic truck…one okra at a time.  His unique promotion has made him a fixture in New Orleans and an integral part of the fabric of this community."

As Mr. Okra explains in the film, "Ain't no use to cookin if you ain't gonna cook with fresh food."

-Mark

New Film: The Queen of the Sun

Last summer was the summer of food docs, and although we haven't been hearing about as many food-related films this year, there are still a bunch of good ones to go out and see. One that I'm particularly looking forward to is The Queen of the Sun, a new film about the global bee crisis from filmmaker Taggart Siegel. The film looks at colony collapse disorder through the eyes of biodynamic beekeepers, scientists, farmers, and philosophers.

Siegel's approach to documenting the sustainable food movement is character-driven (see the clip below); for evidence, look no further than his 2005 film The Real Dirt on Farmer John.

After spending a day filming with beekeeper Melanie Kirby in New Mexico, I can say that unless you're completely at ease with hundreds of bees buzzing around your head, filming a movie like this must have been pretty tough.

Check out Queen of the Sun's upcoming screening schedule.

-Mark

Film Trailer: Sweetgrass

Sweetgrass, a new documentary film from husband-and-wife director team Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, follows a pair of shepherds and their hundreds of sheep during a 150 mile journey through Montana's imposing Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains.

The film looks beautiful and fascinating as it seems to reveal "a world in which nature and culture, animals and humans, vulnerability and violence are all intimately meshed."

The film will be screening across the U.S. in 2010.

-Dorothee

Film Trailer: "Grown in Detroit"

This gorgeous film from Dutch filmmakers Mascha and Manfred Poppenk premiered at the Austin Film Festival earlier this fall, where it won the Best Documentary award, and it will be screened at the Hungry Filmmakers event in New York on Tuesday. 

"Grown in Detroit" is about The Catherine Ferguson Academy for Young Women, a high school in Detroit that offers agricultural training to young pregnant women, in addition to the regular high school curriculum.

-Mark

New Film "Milk Money" Chronicles Struggle of Dairy Farmers Across U.S.

Check out this gorgeous trailer for "Milk Money", a new documentary about the struggle dairy farms are facing across the country. We're looking forward to this important film's release!

For more information, visit: Red & Black Productions

-Dorothee