9th Annual Slow Food Springfield Film Festival

5:00-6:00 p.m.                        Top Finalist Shorts from the 2016 Real Food Media Contest

6:00-7:00 p.m.                        Light dinner by Copper Pot Cooking Studio & Custom Cup Coffee, available for purchase

6:50-7:00 p.m.                        Announcement of the 2016-2017 Snail of Approval Recipients

7:00-9:00 p.m.                        Screening of the film Sustainable followed by a discussion with filmmakers Matt Wechsler and Annie Speicher, Marty Travis and Will Travis of Spence Farm and Erin Meyer, Executive Director, Spence Farm Foundation.

This year’s festival features the documentary film, Sustainable that is a vital investigation of the economic and environmental instability of America’s food system, from the agricultural issues we face — soil loss, water depletion, climate change, pesticide use — to the community of leaders who are determined to fix it. Sustainable is a film about the land, the people who work it and what must be done to sustain it for future generations. The narrative of the film focuses on Marty Travis, a seventh-generation farmer in central Illinois who watched his land and community fall victim to the pressures of big agribusiness. Determined to create a proud legacy for his son, Marty transforms his profitless wasteland and pioneers the sustainable food movement in Chicago.

2016 Real Food Media Contest Winners

A stunning diversity of food and farming stories win top honors in the third annual Real Food Films Contest, the food movement’s first and only competition for short films about sustainable food and farming. Founded by author and advocate Anna Lappé, the Real Food Films Contest received 160 submissions from 20 countries this year. Films were required to be four minutes or under and feature original voices that lift up underreported stories at the heart of the food movement. Film styles ranged from documentaries to advocacy films to spoken word poetry shorts. Real Food Films’ prestigious panel of judges—including Padma Lakshmi, author Raj Patel, James Beard Foundation’s Susan Ungaro, and chef Tom Colicchio—selected the prizes from the top ten finalists.   For more information, http://realfoodfilms.org/pop-up-film-festivals/

Lens On Hunger Award: Everybody Eats | Justinian Dispenza, Tanner Presswood
Boone, North Carolina
Addressing hunger with dignity, pay-as-you-can cafes are popping up across the world. This film tells the story of one innovative, and delicious, alternative to conventional hunger relief efforts and reveals the resiliency and compassion of community at the same time.

Mindful Vineyards | Kari Birdseye, Dave Getzschman, Rob Getzschman
United States
Amelia Ceja immigrated from Mexico when she was 12 years old to work in Napa Valley as a grape picker. The daughter of agricultural workers, Amelia met and befriended farmworker union founder Cesar Chavez as a child and honors his legacy today by operating a vineyard that prioritizes workers and the planet.

Best Food Producer Profile: Farmed with Love | Wang Yu, Li Yang
Shanghai, China
Fed up with food safety problems in China, a mother in Shanghai returns to the farm to help rebuild her trust in the local food system through organic farming.

A Sustainable Catch | Biel Calderon, Somrudee Panasudtha
Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand
Confronted with the realities of overfishing, local fisherman in Thailand push for sustainable solutions to preserve the ecosystem that makes their economy thrive.

McEwen & Sons True Grits | Jennifer Davick, Harrison Holmes, Tanner Latham
Up against the pressures of industrial agriculture, meet a family farmer working to preserve the history and flavor of one of the American South’s most loved staples.

First Runner Up + Best Cinematography: Naturali Tea | Jeremy Seifert, Aaron Stair
Fujieda, Japan
After water, tea is the number one consumed beverage in the world. An organic Japanese tea farmer with over three decades of experience shows that soil health is essential for the environment and the future of tea.

Best Underreported Issue: Saving Sap | Ian Maclellan, Eloise Reed, Dylan Ladds
Loudon, New Hampshire
A story of how climate change touches food, Saving Sap tells the tale of maple syrup tapping in New England and efforts to adapt to a warming world.

Best Innovative Initiative: The Kelly Street Garden | Alison Hall Kibbe, Rebecca Scheckman, Sasha Phyars-Burgess, Seyi Adebanjo, Tiana Thomas, Rosalba Lopez Ramirez
South Bronx, New York City
Can a group of dedicated residents rebuild trust and community connections? The Kelly Street Garden in New York City’s South Bronx shows what’s possible when individuals dig deep and commit to transforming neighborhoods through art, wellness – and fresh, healthy food.

The 2016 Grand Prize winner is Home Flavored a haunting story of how soda companies impact the lives of Latino families in the United States. Contest judge, Raj Patel, described the film as a “powerful fusion of slam poetry, documentary, essay, argument and anthropology. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen, and couldn’t wait to hear the next line… It’s the kind of filmmaking that’ll get food issues to a far wider audience.” Directed by Jamie DeWolf from Oakland, California, Home Flavored features spoken word poet Monica Mendoza and was produced with The Bigger Picture, a collaboration between Youth Speaks and the University of California San Francisco Center for Vulnerable Populations designed to combat the epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes by empowering youth to change the conversation.

People’s Choice Award + Best Student Film: Beyond the Seal | Leah Varjacques and Katherine Nagasawa
El Oro Province, Ecuador
Beyond the Seal peels back our understanding on the most eaten fruit in the United States–the banana–uncovering its toxic production and the people behind a movement to change the industry.