December 2019
It’s an old cliché that a picture paints a thousand words, but in this case it’s true.
Here’s a list of some movies and documentaries that get to the heart of the issues surrounding food and our food consumption behaviour.
American Meat
“American Meat” walks viewers through the evolution of animal agriculture and highlights alternative animal husbandry systems that protect the environment and animal welfare. The film features farmer and advocate Joel Salatin, who uses sustainable land management methods, such as rotational grazing, and emphasises the importance of supporting one’s local food shed. The film also highlights stories from other farmers who are raising cows, pigs and chickens in environmentally sustainable and humane ways.
Bottled Life
This is a film all about Nestlé's water business.
The question it poses is “do you know how to turn ordinary water into a billion-dollar business?” In Switzerland there's a company which has developed the art to perfection - Nestlé - and they dominate the global bottled water business. Swiss journalist Res Gehringer investigates this money-making phenomena.
Bugs
Will eating insects save our Earth? Insects as food is a hot topic. Particularly over the last few years, since the UN recommended edible insects as a resource to combat world hunger, they have been heralded for their taste by cooks and gastronomes, for their low ecological impact by environmentalists, and for their nutritional content by public health scientists. This film looks at whether insects are the new superfood that will fix all of our global food security problems.
Dive! The Film
In “Dive! The Film,” Director Jeremy Seifert and his friends highlight food waste in America by dumpster diving at various grocery stores around Los Angeles. Every American wastes around 20 pounds of food every month, costing U.S. consumers an estimated US$165 billion each year, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. The narrators evidence these facts by finding massive amounts of edible food in the dumpsters and confronting store managers on their food donation policies. This multi-award winning documentary not only reveals the wasteful practices of grocery stores but also urges individual consumers to change their habits by offering advice and practical home solutions to reduce household waste.
The Empire of Scents
The inventive documentary “Empire of Scents” highlights the power of our sense of smell - how it affects, directs, and triggers our emotional lives. Director Kim Nguyen, nominated at the 2013 Oscars for “War Witch”, takes viewers on a visually impressive journey across five countries that inspires viewers to question how much they really know about one of the most basic human senses.
Farmageddon
“Farmageddon” takes an alarming look into excessive government oversight of American food producers. Director Kristin Canty reveals stories of government harassment and force against small, independent farms that were coerced into stopping production. Canty, a mother of four, tells the story of her struggle to find the foods of her choice, such as raw milk, from the producers she wanted. In an interview about her film, Canty said, “I hope that we can come to realise that America’s farms, farmers and homesteaders deserve a place here and should not be under attack by our own government.”
Food Chains
“Food Chains,” produced by actress Eva Longoria and Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser, reveals the plight of farmworkers, the foundation of the food industry. The filmmakers follow a group of Florida tomato pickers in their quest for a more dignified work life through the Fair Food Program, which brings growers and retailers together to improve farmworker working conditions. “The goal is to address human rights and labour rights that exist in the fields. The creation of the programme comes directly from the participation of the workers ... and the ideas of our community. That’s what we call worker-led social responsibility,” says farmworker and organiser Gerardo Chavez.
Food Choices
Award-winning filmmaker Michal Siewierski took on a three-year journey to expose the truth about our food choices. This ground-breaking documentary explores the impact that these choices have on people’s health, the health of our planet and on the lives of other living species. The film also covers several misconceptions about food and diet, offering a unique new perspective on these issues. Featuring interviews with 28 world-renowned experts, this film will certainly change the way you look at the food on your plate.
Food, Inc
In “Food, Inc.”, filmmaker Robert Kenner details how the growth of industrial farming and the political power of major food companies have put human health, the independent farmer, farm workers and our environment at risk. Despite its dire overview of the current food system, “Food, Inc.” inspires viewers to play their part in changing the food system. In a particularly revealing moment of the film, Troy Roush, an Indianan farmer says, “You have to understand that we farmers … we’re gonna deliver to the marketplace what the marketplace demands … People have got to start demanding good, wholesome food of us, and we’ll deliver, I promise you.”
FRESH
“FRESH,” released in 2009, celebrates farmers, researchers and activists who are reinventing the food system by developing innovative methods to grow food sustainably. By using unconventional farming practices, these agricultural pioneers hope to address food contamination, environmental pollution, natural resource depletion and the growing obesity problem. Profiled characters include Will Allen, who converted acres of industrial wasteland into productive farmland in Milwaukee, and David Ball, who started a cooperative of local farmers in Kansas City to provide an alternative to the traditional supermarket.
The Future of Food
“The Future of Food” was written and directed by Deborah Koons Garcia and focuses on the social, economic and environmental impacts of the proliferation of genetically engineered foods. Viewers see the issue from the perspective of small farmers, who are held legally responsible when genetically engineered, patented seeds spread into their fields. The documentary also criticises the imbalance of power between international food companies and local farmers, and the ecological harm of industrial agriculture practices, such as monoculture farming. The New York Times calls the firm a “sober, far-reaching polemic against genetically modified foods.” Since the release of the film in 2004, the GMO-labelling debate has intensified, making this film even more relevant for viewers today.
The Gleaners & I
French documentary director Agnès Varda’s 2000 film gives viewers a glimpse into the lives of gleaners. Varda interviews people who scavenge for food in the fields and orchards of the French countryside as well as those who search for leftover items from urban markets and dumpsters. “The Gleaners & I” encourages viewers to re-evaluate the culture of consumption, especially towards food, all while marvelling at the resourcefulness of the gleaners.
Good Things Await
Director Phie Ambo’s “Good Things Await” follows Danish farmer Niels Stokholm through his battle against government bureaucrats to keep his farm, Thorshøjgaard, and preserve his Danish Red dairy cattle. Stokholm practices biodynamic farming, which is an ecological, ethical and sustainable approach to farming, and supplies some of the country’s most well-known restaurants. Unfortunately, agricultural authorities unversed in biodynamic principles threaten the very survival of Thorshøjgaard and its unique way of farming.
H.O.P.E: What You Eat Matters
“H.O.P.E: What You Eat Matters” seeks to find solutions to the issues faced by Western society, such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer, by exploring dietary habits. With meat consumption having risen significantly over the past 50 years, author and filmmaker Nina Messinger travels across several countries to better understand the consequences of a meat-based diet. She meets with experts in nutrition, medicine, science and agriculture, as well as farmers and people who have recovered from severe illnesses through diet change.
How to Feed the World?
This 10-minute film was created for a Bon Appétit exhibition in Paris. It describes how developed countries can address food insecurity by investing in international development and consuming more foods with lower environmental impact. Created for children ages 9 to 14, “How to Feed the World?” explores food justice, dietary insufficiency, the economic consequences of food aid and the idea of a new type of agriculture for feeding more people with less environmental harm.
In Defense of Food
Based on Michael Pollan’s best-selling book, “In Defense of Food” delves into Pollan’s advice to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Pollan coins the term nutritionism to describe Americans’ adherence to dietary fads and critiques the American food industry’s emphasis on specific nutrients rather than whole foods. According to Pollan, “as eaters we feel whipsawed by the changes in the nutritional advice we’re getting.”
Just Eat It
In the 2014 documentary “Just Eat it,” couple Jenny Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin pledge to eat only food that would otherwise be thrown away for a period of six months in an effort to better understand the depth of the food waste problem. The amount of food the couple finds is shocking and encourages viewers to rethink their food behaviour, especially around issues such as expiration dates and the aesthetics of produce. In an interview with National Public Radio in America, Rustemeyer said, “There’s a lot that we as individuals can do. It’s not like other environmental and social issues, where it’s a systemic problem that we don’t play a part in.”
More Than Honey
Over the past 15 years, numerous colonies of bees have been decimated throughout the world, but the causes of this disaster remain unknown. Depending on the world region, 50% to 90% of all local bees have disappeared, and this epidemic is still spreading from beehive to beehive, all over the planet. Everywhere, the same scenario is repeated: billions of bees leave their hives, never to return. No bodies are found in the immediate surroundings, and no visible predators can be located.
A Place at the Table
“A Place at the Table” is a moving documentary chronicling the challenges of food insecure people in America. The stories highlight the economic and social implications of hunger in a country where nearly 50 million people suffer from food insecurity. The film, produced by Magnolia Pictures, takes us into the lives of a single mother trying to provide for her kids, a fifth grader who depends on her neighbours to feed her, and a second grader whose health issues are exacerbated by her poor diet.
The Power of Clean WatER
This documentary follows the lives of three women and their families, providing a first-hand perspective on the daily challenges of accessing clean drinking water. The film also demonstrates the positive impact P&G’s Purifier of Water packets have had on communities in Indonesia, Kenya and Mexico.
The Singhampton Project
This 60-minute documentary follows German-Canadian farm-to-table chefs Michael and Nobuyo Stadtländer and a French landscape artist as they create seven gardens in which they grow, cook and serve seven-course meals for hundreds of people every night for 20 nights. The chefs use traditional growing methods and irrigate only by hand.
Supersize Me
Morgan Spurlock’s seminal documentary. While examining the influence of the fast food industry, he personally takes on the challenge of eating only McDonald's food for one month to see what effect it has on his health.
Taste the Waste
Valentin Thurn explores the causes and effects of food waste in Germany in “Taste the Waste”. The film is based on the fact that greater than 50% of our food ends up being thrown away. And most of that happens before it even reaches our dining table. To put that in perspective, every second lettuce, every second potato and every fifth bread is discarded. That's about 500,000 lorry loads. In search of the causes, Valentin Thurn talks to managers, bakers, inspectors, ministers, farmers and EU politicians.
Unbroken Ground
“Unbroken Ground,” argues over its 25 minute running time that climate change and food systems are inextricably linked. The documentary, produced by Patagonia Provisions in 2016, tells the story of those using sustainable farming techniques that restore our natural environment, including regenerative agriculture, regenerative grazing, diversified crop development and restorative fishing.
We Feed the World
In the 2005 documentary “We Feed the World”, Austrian filmmaker Erwin Wagenhofer travels to find out precisely where his food comes from. Wagenhofer takes viewers to France, Spain, Romania, Switzerland and Brazil. In doing so, he shines a light on the ironies of the world’s food systems. For example, Latin America produces much of Austria’s livestock feed, while a quarter of their own population starves. The film features interviews with Jean Ziegler, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, and Peter Brabeck, Chairman and CEO of Nestle International. “We Feed the World” illustrates the effects of globalisation and industrial food production on the world’s food systems and highlights the global repercussions of hunger.
10 Milliarden (in German only)
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