A Ripple Effect Inc. Release
72 minutes
56 minutes (Broadcast version)
Media Contact:
Crystal Cun
Crystal@FRESHthemovie.com
(347) 860-9444
http://www.FRESHthemovie.com
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across
America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the
rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and
confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental
pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity.
Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical
vision for a future of our food and our planet.
Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and
activist, Will Allen, a 2008 recipient of the MacArthur “genius”
grant and recently named one of Time’s 100 most influential people;
sustainable farmer and entrepreneur Joel Salatin, made famous by The
Omnivore’s Dilemma, the best-selling book by Michael Pollan, who is
also featured in the movie; and, Kansas City supermarket owner David
Ball, who is challenges our Wal-Mart-dominated economy every day by
stocking his stores with products from local suppliers.
Director’s Statement
I first started thinking about making FRESH after reading a threepart article in the New Yorker about global warming four years ago.
The article’s dire exposé of the complexity and extent of the problem
left me feeling like a powerless and hopeless observer, watching the
world spiraling towards its inevitable destruction. I also realized
that these very feelings were responsible for my inaction.
But in
the face of such large and complex problems, it was hard to see how
my small, seemingly inconsequential, individual actions could have
meaning or impact. So I embarked on the making of FRESH to see if,
yes, they do in fact matter.
Initially, I intended to document the urgency of the global warming
crisis, hoping to scare others and myself into taking action.
Instead, I encountered the most inspiring people, ideas and
initiatives. Who knew that we already had the solutions to so many
of our problems and that some of us were already hard at work
implementing them? Instead of the despair and inaction unwittingly
fostered by the media, these examples of change suggested a very
different perspective. Life is an indivisible network in which every
node is critical. Each one of us is creating the world we are living
in.
It is this creative process that gives our life meaning and
pleasure.
It is precisely the transformation from inaction to
empowerment, the very transformation I went through making the film
that I want the film to offer to audiences.
I want audiences to
engage by discussing the issues, finding out what’s going on in their
community and getting involved.
FRESH portrays a movement that is happening in America and worldwide.
The alternative food market is the fastest growing market in the
United States, even though it still makes up a minuscule percentage
of the food economy. And it’s incredibly energetic. Where it will
2
lead us, I don’t know.
Lin Yutang, a Chinese writer and inventor,
said that “Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a
road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into
existence.”
I like to remind myself that both cynicism and optimism are equally
righteous. We don’t know what the future holds, yet we can remain
hopeful in the knowledge that change is always possible, even when it
is hard to imagine, and all of us can choose to participate in it.
3
ABOUT THE FILM
FRESH is more than a film; it is a reflection of a rising movement of
people and communities across America who are re-inventing our food
system. FRESH celebrates the food architects who offer a practical
vision of a new food paradigm and consumer access to it. Encouraging
individuals to take matters into their own hands, FRESH is a guide
that empowers people to take an array of actions as energetic as
planting urban gardens and creating warm composts from food waste,
and as simple as buying locally-grown products and preserving
seasonal produce to eat later in the year.
Throughout the film, we encounter the most inspiring people, ideas,
and initiatives happening around the country right now.
At the
Growing Power urban farm in Milwaukee, Will Allen is turning three
acres of industrial wasteland into a mecca of nutrition for his
neighborhood. In Kansas City, we witness David Ball revitalize his
community, turning the modern concept of the Supermarket on its head
by stocking his stores with produce from a cooperative of local
farmers.
And, we journey to Joel Salatin’s farm in Virginia’s
Shenandoah Valley to witness his methods for closing the nutrient
cycle, allowing cows, chickens, pigs and natural grasses to flourish
and produce without ever an ounce of chemical fertilizer or
industrial animal feed.
FRESH tells the stories of real people, connecting audiences not with
facts and figures or apocalyptic policy analysis, but with examples
of personal initiative and concrete ways to engage in a new food
model.
4
WHAT FOLKS ARE SAYING ABOUT FRESH
FRESH is a bracing, even exhilarating look at the whole range of
efforts underway to renovate the way we grow food and feed ourselves.
– Michael Pollan
FRESH is just that—an upbeat and wonderfully fresh look at our food
system and how to make it work better for the health of humans and
the planet. It’s a must see for everyone who eats.
– Marion Nestle
We all just watched FRESH…and we were mesmerized and empowered. Every
American needs to see this. You will capture hearts with this. I
can’t wait to sit in an audience watching this. It is absolutely
masterful.
– Joel Salatin
If Food Inc. was your wake up call, Fresh, The Movie is your call to
action. Fresh’s strength is that it shows the incredible creativity
of individuals who are devoting their lives to producing food
differently.
– EcoSalon
Where FRESH departs from Food Inc., The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and most
other food documentaries of late, is that FRESH is downright hopeful.
– FairFoodFight.com
FRESH is a rich and inspiring meal. FRESH offers not only a serious
look at where we are and a useful primer on how we got here, but
repeated heart-lifting demonstrations that there are ways to produce
food that are safer, kinder and more natural. FRESH provides not only
education but inspiration—and hope.
– Joan Gussow
5
THE FRESH MOVEMENT IS GROWING
FRESH is a documentary that celebrates the farmers, thinkers and
entrepreneurs across America who are re-inventing our food system.
FRESH is also a movement: an activist platform that integrates
screenings with grassroots outreach, spreading awareness and sparking
action through advocacy campaigns, petitions and social networking.
Here are some of our achievements:





Successful Self-Distribution. Since our initial release in May
2009 with an 11-city US tour, FRESH has screened over 4,000
times around the world. This accomplishment was 100%
grassroots-driven, with contributions from no more than two
paid staff at any given time.
Longevity & Financial Sustainability. Our activist outreach
has allowed us to sustain interest in FRESH for almost two
years. All of our activities have been financed through the
licensing of FRESH screening rights and community sales.
Partnerships with Key Organizations. Our distribution and
outreach strategy has helped us develop a network of hundreds
of partner organizations. FRESH works closely with partners to
generate ideas about how FRESH can best serve local
communities, from tying screenings to campaigns to organizing
post-screening panel discussions. Ultimately, these
participatory events help audience members become immediately
and meaningfully involved in the sustainable food movement in
their own backyards.
Powerful Online Activist Platform. Our innovative distribution
and activist platform (based on Salsa Software developed by
Democracy in Action) has allowed us to develop exciting and
relevant advocacy campaigns. These campaigns have brought
important issues in food policy to the attention of our
supporters and asked them to take action (sign a petition, call
their representative, etc). Thus far, we’ve gathered over
60,000 signatures to submit to various federal agencies,
regarding issues ranging from genetically engineered salmon to
antitrust enforcement for farmers.
Growth of Social Networks. Through our unique combination of
grassroots outreach, online campaigning and social media
communications, we have cultivated an online community of over
70,000 people. Our Facebook fan base alone is over 19,000
people and has a monthly growth rate of 10% due to our relevant
and informative content. Recent survey results suggested that
50% of the members of the FRESH community have not actually
seen FRESH yet. This is a testament to the value of FRESH
beyond the film itself - it’s more than a documentary; it’s a
movement.
6
THE FRESH FOOD MODEL IN ACTION
Environmentally
&
Economically
Salatin’s Polyface Farm
Sustainable
Agriculture:
Joel
Polyface Farm was 400 acres of badly eroded land in rural Virginia
when Joel Salatin started farming it 30 years ago.
Government and
private consultants advised him to graze the forest and build
feedlots, but Joel saw the negative impact this kind of farming was
having on the land, the animals, the farmers, and the community. So
following his deeply held values and foregoing government assistance,
he developed a self-sustaining organic farm. By rotating the use of
his land, Salatin allows his cattle to feed only on grass, thus
closing the nutrient cycle.
Rotating cattle allows the grass to
regenerate, therefore capturing more CO2 and building more soil. The
cow manure that’s produced is then used to fertilize his soil,
eliminating the need to buy synthetic fertilizers or to manage a
toxic manure lagoon. The cows are followed in rotation by chickens,
who eat fly larvae out of the dung, thereby “sanitizing” the fields
and eliminating the need for antibiotics. Salatin’s ingenious system
of farming combines ecology and technology in a way that increases
productivity while respecting the land and animals, demonstrating
that a farmer can be both economically and environmentally
sustainable.
Revitalizing
Supermarket
our
Local
Economies:
David
Ball’s
Alternative
With the arrival of Wal-Mart and other corporate supermarkets in the
1980s, David Ball watched his family-run Kansas City supermarket
chain fail, alongside a once-thriving local farm community. To save
his business, Ball turned to his community and proposed a simple but
out-of-the-box solution: Ball helped organized a cooperative of local
farmers — The Good Natured Family Farm — and aggressively marketed
their products in his 18 supermarkets. This decision has revitalized
not only Ball’s own business, but also has created a ripple effect of
economic vitality to rural areas while improving the access to
healthy foods in Kansas City.
Healthy Food For ALL:
Will Allen’s Educational Urban Farm
Fifteen years ago, Will Allen bought a piece of abandoned land in the
heart of Milwaukee.
Today, these three acres have become Growing
Power, an oasis in an otherwise neglected neighborhood.
The farm
turns over one million pounds of the city’s waste into fertile soil,
which in turn produces one million pounds of chemical-free food every
year. As a result, Allen makes fresh food — from organically grown
vegetables to his farm-raised tilapia — available every day in a
community where once there was none.
The farm has created jobs,
bolstered nutrition, aided small farmers, and fought hunger in one of
7
the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee — all while demonstrating a
practical, cost-effective alternative to the nation's dysfunctional
food system.
The stories
selected and
inspire each
future of the
of these incredible innovators have been carefully
provide practical, on the ground, solutions, that can
on of us to become active participants in shaping the
planet.
To learn more about
www.FRESHthemovie.com
growing,
living
and
eating
FRESH,
visit:
8
ANA’S 10 FRESH SOLUTIONS
1. Buy local products when possible, otherwise, buy organic and
fair-trade products.
Ask your grocer or favorite restaurant
what local food they carry and try to influence their
purchasing decisions. You will support your local economy and
small farmers, reduce your exposure to harmful pesticides,
improve the taste and quality of your food, and protect the
environment from fertilizer and pesticide run-offs.
2. Shop at your local farmers market, join a CSA (Community
Supported Agriculture) and get weekly deliveries of the
season's harvest, and by buy from local grocers and co-ops
committed to stocking local foods.
3. Support restaurants and food vendors that buy locally produced
food.
When at a restaurant, ask (nicely!) your waiter where
the meat and fish comes from.
Eventually, as more and more
customers ask the same question, they'll get the message!
4. Avoid GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)!
When buying
processed food (anything packaged) buy organic to avoid GMO.
(Since almost all the soy, corn, and canola in the US is
genetically modified, over 70% of all processed food contain
GMOs from by-products of these grains.)
5. COOK, CAN, DRY & FREEZE! Our culture has forgotten some of the
most basic joys of cooking. Not only is cooking at home better
for you and more economical, but it's an invaluable skill to
pass on to your children.
6. Drink plenty of water, but avoid bottled water when you can.
Water bottles pollute the environment and bottled water is
often mere tap water. Plastic is harmful to your health and to
the environment. Buy a reusable water bottle and invest in a
good water filter.
7. Grow a garden, visit a farm, volunteer in your community
garden, teach a child how to garden. GET DIRTY! Have fun!
8. Volunteer and/or financially support an organization dedicated
to promoting a sustainable food system.
Stay informed by
joining the mailing list of the advocacy groups you trust.
9. Get involved in your community! Influence what your child eats
by engaging the school board, effect city policies by learning
about zoning and attending city council meetings, learn about
the federal policies that affect your food choice and let your
congress person know what you think.
10.
SHARE your passion! Talk to your friends and family about
why our food choice matters. And organize a FRESH screening!
9
HEALTH BENEFITS OF EATING FRESH
Pasture-raised meat, eggs, and dairy
Lower fat: Meat, eggs, and dairy products from pastured animals are
ideal for your health. Compared with commercial products raised on
feed lots, they offer you more "good" fats, and fewer "bad" fats,
according to the Journal of Animal Science, among others1. Because
meat from grass-fed animals is lower in fat than meat from grain-fed
animals, it is also lower in calories.
As an example, a 6-ounce
steak from a grass-finished steer can have 100 fewer calories than a
6-ounce steak from a grain-fed steer, or the same amount as a
skinless chicken breast. If you eat a typical amount of beef (66.5
pounds a year), switching to lean grass-fed beef will save you 17,733
calories a year. If everything else in your diet remains constant,
you'll lose about six pounds a year.
If all Americans switched to
grass-fed meat, our national epidemic of obesity could diminish.
More
Vitamins:
Meats
from
pastured
animals
are
richer
in
antioxidants; including vitamins E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C.
Furthermore, they do not contain traces of added hormones,
antibiotics or other drugs. According to a study by Colorado State
University2, the meat from the pastured cattle is four times higher
in vitamin E than the meat from the feedlot cattle and,
interestingly, almost twice as high as the meat from the feedlot
cattle given vitamin E supplements. In humans, vitamin E is linked
with a lower risk of heart disease and cancer.
This potent
antioxidant may also have anti-aging properties. Most Americans are
deficient in vitamin E.
More Omega-3s: Meat from grass-fed animals has two to four times
more omega-3 fatty acids than meat from grain- fed animals, according
to the Journal of Animal Science3.
Eggs from pastured hens can
contain as much as 10 times more omega-3s than eggs from factory
hens. Omega-3s are called "good fats" because they play a vital role
in every cell and system in your body. A diet high in Omega three
may reduce the risk of cancer4, high blood pressure, high cholesterol
and heart disease. A study by Tashiro and Yamamori in Nutrition also
found that people with a diet rich in omega-3s are less likely to
suffer from depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder
(hyperactivity), or Alzheimer's disease.5
1
1. Rule, D. C., K. S. Brought on, S. M. Shellito, and G. Maiorano. "Comparison of Muscle Fatty Acid Profiles and Cholesterol
Concentrations of Bison, Beef Cattle, Elk, and Chicken." J Anim Sci 80, no. 5 (2002): 1202-11.;Dhiman, Tilak R. "Factors Affecting
Conjugated Linoleic Acid Content in Milk and Meat" Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 45 (2005), pp. 463-82: 467-68: 472.
2
"Dietary supplementation of vitamin E to cattle to improve shelf life and case life of beef for domestic and international markets." G.C.
Smith Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1171
3
Duckett, S. K., D. G. Wagner, et al. (1993). "Effects of time on feed on beef nutrient composition." J Anim Sci 71(8): 2079-88.
4
Simopolous, A. P. and Jo Robinson (1999). The Omega Diet. New York, HarperCollins; Rose, D. P., J. M. Connolly, et al. (1995).
"Influence of Diets Containing Eicosapentaenoic or Docasahexaenoic Acid on Growth and Metastasis of Breast Cancer Cells in Nude Mice."
Journal of the National Cancer Institute 87(8): 587-92
5
Tashiro, T., H. Yamamori, et al. (1998). "n-3 versus n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids in critical illness." Nutrition 14(6): 551-3.
10
More Conjugated Linoleic Acid: Meat and dairy products from grass-fed
ruminants are the richest known source of another type of good fat
called "conjugated linoleic acid" or CLA. When ruminants are raised
on fresh pasture alone, their products contain from three to five
times more CLA than products from animals fed conventional diets.6
CLA may be one of our most potent defenses against cancer.7
Sustainably Grown Fruits & Vegetables
“According to the USDA’s own numbers if you look at fresh produce grown
in 1950 and compare it nutritionally with fresh produce grown today you
will find that the amounts of key nutrients, minerals and vitamins have
diminished by 40%.” Michael Pollan, in FRESH.
More nutritious: Organic crops, on average, contain higher levels of
trace minerals and antioxidant phytonutrients.8
Official food composition tables, including data compiled by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, reveal that since the 1940s the mineral
levels in fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy have declined substantially
in conventional foods. Combine this with earlier (pre-ripened) picking,
longer storage, and more processing of crops — all of which result in a
depletion of nutrient levels in produce — and it's no wonder we may be
getting fewer nutrients in our food than we were 60 years ago.
The artificial fertilization associated with conventional crops produces
lush growth by swelling produce with more water. Partly because of this
water inflation, there are higher levels of nutrients in organic
produce.
A recent review of the subject estimated that organic produce tends to
contain
10-50%
more
phytonutrients
than
conventional
produce.
Phytonutrients, many of which are antioxidants involved in the plant's
own defense system, are higher in organic produce because crops rely
more on their own defenses in the absence of regular applications of
chemical pesticides.
No chemical residue: One of the huge advantages of organic foods is that
they haven't been doused in pesticides.9
Pesticide residues turn up,
not just on fruit and vegetables, but in bread, baby food and other
6
Dhiman, T. R., G. R. Anand, et al. (1999). "Conjugated linoleic acid content of milk from cows fed different diets." J Dairy Sci 82(10):
2146-56.
7
Ip, C, J.A. Scimeca, et al. (1994) "Conjugated linoleic acid. A powerful anti-carcinogen from animal fat sources." p. 1053. Cancer 74(3
suppl):1050-4; Aro, A., S. Mannisto, I. Salminen, M. L. Ovaskainen, V. Kataja, and M. Uusitupa. "Inverse Association between Dietary and
Serum Conjugated Linoleic Acid and Risk of Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women." Nutr Cancer 38, no. 2 (2000): 151-7.
8
Agronomy for Sustainable Development (2009), DOI: 10.1051/agro/2009019,“Nutritional quality and safety of organic food. A review”,
Author: Lairon, D. Whether or not organic food brings nutritional benefits over conventional food has been a matter of considerable inquiry
and debate. The UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) concluded that there is no evidence of nutritional superiority. More recently, however, a
review published in the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development has drawn different conclusions.
9
See list of resources from the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/pestfoodtb.html
11
products.
Monitoring programs consistently show that around one in
three non-organic food samples tested contains a variety of pesticide
residues.
Most pesticide-residue safety levels are set for individual pesticides,
but many samples of fresh produce carry multiple pesticide residues.
Rules often do not take into account the "cocktail effect" of
combinations of pesticides in and on foods.
Research is emerging
confirming the potential for such synergistic increases in toxicity of
up to 100-fold, resulting in reproductive, immune and nervous system
effects not expected from the individual compounds acting alone.
One American peer-reviewed study lead by Chensheng Lu found that the
urine and saliva of children eating a variety of conventional foods from
area groceries contained biological markers of organophosphates, the
family of pesticides spawned by the creation of nerve gas agents in
World War II.10
10
Chensheng Lu's study was published in Environmental Health Perspectives (ehponline.org), a publication of the National Institute of
Environmental Health Science.
12
13
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
“It’s very seductive to hear that language: ‘we need to feed the
world.’ When people in industrial agriculture talk about feeding the
world, they are talking about increasing the production of grain and
nobody is stopping and saying: well what are you using that grain
for? Are you growing food? No! they're not growing food, those are
seeds for cattle feed, for a very unsustainable system of fattening
cattle on feedlots.
But guess what: cattle shouldn’t be eating
grain, they're evolved to eat grass.” Michael Pollan, in FRESH.
By keeping animals concentrated on feedlots and feeding them only
grains, our current food supply system is depleting our environment.
Sustainable agriculture, in contrast, benefits the environment in a
myriad of ways. Preventing the contamination of our water resources
from pesticides and fertilizer run-offs is one obvious way, but other
benefits may be less obvious. If we returned to pasture-based cattle
production, our environment would benefit from:
 Using less fossil fuel use: On pasture, grazing animals do
their own fertilizing and harvesting. It’s a different story
in a confinement operation where animals are crowded into
sheds or kept outdoors on barren land and all their feed is
shipped to them from distant fields where crops are treated
with fossil-fuel based fertilizers, sprayed with pesticides,
and planted, tilled, and harvested with heavy equipment.
 Capturing CO2: Grazed pasture removes carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere more effectively than any land use, including
forestland and ungrazed prairie, helping to slow global
warming.
 No need for fertilizers or the buildup of toxic manure
lagoons: On well-managed pasture-based farms, the animals
spread their manure evenly over the soil where it becomes a
natural source of organic fertilizer. The manure improves the
quality of the grass, which increases the rate of weight gain
of the animals. It’s a closed, sustainable system.
 Less soil erosion: Currently, the United States is losing
three billion tons of nutrient-rich topsoil each year.
Growing corn and soy causes six times more soil erosion than
pasture.
 Healthier soil: Grazing is better for the soil than growing
grain. Six Minnesota pasture-based ranchers asked researchers
to compare the health of their soil with soil from neighboring
farms that produced corn, soybean, oats, or hay. At the end
of four years of monitoring, researchers concluded that the
carefully managed grazed land had 53% greater soil stability,
131% more earthworms, more organic matter, less nitrate
pollution of groundwater and provided a better habitat for
grassland birds and other wildlife.
14
“You’ve got to understand that 70% of all the row crops in the
united states … are grown for multi-stomached herbivores (cows), that
aren’t ever supposed to eat that anyway.
Only 30% goes to people,
pigs and poultry. So if we went to a grass-based agriculture for our
cattle, suddenly 70% of that currently assaulted land could return to
a mob-stocking, herbivorous, solar-conversion, lignified, carbonsequestration, fertilization program, and all the negatives in
agriculture would come to a screeching halt.”
Joel Salatin, in
FRESH.
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
“If we just had every person…spend ten dollars a week (on small,
local farmers), I mean that would be such a small percentage of their
overall food budget but it would make such a huge statement and have
such a huge economic impact. Not only on the small family farms but
to the economy, because the amount of money generated by that would
be tripled or quadrupled by what it would bring back to our local
economies and our rural areas, which are really dying.”
Diana
Endicott, in FRESH.
Eating local supports our local farmers: American farmers, on
average, receive only about 20 cents for every dollar we spend on
food
at
the
supermarket.
The
rest
goes
to
processing,
transportation, packing, and other marketing costs.
In addition,
these farmers, on average, get to keep only ten to fifteen cents from
every dollar they earn; the rest pays for fertilizer, fuel,
machinery,
and
other
production
expenses
—
items
typically
manufactured and often provided by suppliers outside of the local
community. Farmers who sell food direct to local customers, on the
other hand, receive the full retail value for everything they sell, a
dollar for each food dollar spent. Because they contribute a larger
proportion to the production process and purchase fewer commercial
production inputs, they then get to keep half or more of each food
dollar they earn.
It’s a win-win situation: they receive a larger
proportion of the total income as a return for their labor,
management, and entrepreneurship.
Eating local revitalizes our local economies: Supporting local
farmers also means supporting our local economies. Farmers who sell
locally also tend to spend locally, both for their personal and
farming needs, which also contribute more to the local economy.
Indeed, the creation of local food network creates new jobs and new
business opportunities, in order to process, warehouse, and
distribute the products.
15
Eating local helps save farmland: More than one million acres of U.S.
farmland are lost each year to residential and commercial
development. The loss may seem small in relation to the total amount
of farmland — more than 950 million acres — we do have, but an acre
lost to development is an acre lost forever from food production.
ANIMAL HEALTH BENEFITS
Animals raised on pasture enjoy a much higher quality of life than those confined within factory farms. When
raised on open pasture, animals are able to move around freely and carry out their natural behaviors. This
lifestyle is impossible to achieve on industrial farms, where thousands of animals are crowded into confined
facilities, often without access to fresh air or sunlight. These stressful conditions are a breeding ground for
bacteria and the animals frequently become ill, so factory farms must routinely treat them with antibiotics to
prevent outbreaks of disease.
16
BIOS
About the filmmaker
Ana Joanes — producer and director of FRESH, is a
Swiss-born documentary filmmaker whose work addresses
pressing
social
issues
through
character-driven
narratives. After traveling internationally to study
the
environmental
and
cultural
impacts
of
globalization, she graduated from Columbia Law School
in May 2000, awarded as a Stone Scholar and Human
Rights Fellow. Thereafter, Ana created Reel Youth, a
video production program for youth coming out of detention. In 2003,
Ana and her friend Andrew Unger produced Generation Meds, a
documentary exploring our fears and misgivings about mental illness
and medication. FRESH is Ana’s second feature documentary.
About the participants featured in FRESH:
Will Allen — 6’ 7” former professional basketball
player Will Allen is now one of the most influential
leaders of the food security and urban farming
movement.
His farm and not-for-profit organization,
Growing Power, has trained and inspired people in
every corner of the U.S. to start growing food
sustainably. This man and his organization go beyond
growing food. They provide a platform for people to
share knowledge and form relationships in order to develop
alternatives to the industrial food system.
David Ball — Supermarket owner and innovator, David
Ball is the founder of Good Natured Family Farms, an
alliance of 75 family farms surrounding the Kansas
City metro area.
They sell everything from locally
produced honey to angus beef to locally owned and
operated independent supermarkets, challenging our
Wal-Mart-dominated economy.
With the rise of big
chain
stores,
David
Ball
saw
his
family-run
supermarket dying, along with a once-thriving local farm community.
He reinvented his business, partnering with area farmers to sell
locally grown food and specialty food products at an affordable
price. His plan has brought the local economy back to life.
John Ikerd — raised on a small dairy farm in
southwest Missouri, Ikerd received his BS, MS, and
Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics from the
University of Missouri.
He worked in private
industry for a time and spent thirty years in various
professorial
positions
at
North
Carolina
State
University, Oklahoma State University, University of
17
Georgia, and the University of Missouri before retiring in early
2000.
Since retiring, he spends most of his time writing and
speaking on issues related to sustainability with an emphasis on
economics and agriculture.
Ikerd is author of Sustainable
Capitalism, A Return to Common Sense, Small Farms are Real Farms, and
Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture.
“We can tip the balance of nature to a certain extent, but when we
try to tip it too far it creates problems.” – John Ikerd
Andrew Kimbrell — Kimbrell is a public interest
attorney, activist and author. He has been involved
in public interest legal activity in numerous areas
of technology, human health and the environment.
After working for eight years as the Policy Director
at the Foundation for Economic Trends, Kimbrell
established the International Center for Technology
Assessment (CTA) in 1994 and the Center for Food
Safety (CFS) in 1997. Kimbrell has written several books and given
numerous public lectures on a variety of issues.
He has been
featured on radio and television programs across the country,
including The Today Show, the CBS Morning Show, Crossfire, Headlines
on Trial, and Good Morning America.
He has lectured at dozens of
universities throughout the country and has testified before
congressional and regulatory hearings.
In 1994, the Utne Reader
named Kimbrell as one of the world’s leading 100 visionaries.
“Medium sized organic is far more productive than industrial-sized
agriculture.” – Andrew Kimbrell
Russ Kremer — 15 years ago, Russ Kremer ran an
industrial hog confinement operation in Frankenstein,
Missouri. Following standard practices, he fed his
pigs daily doses of antibiotic for growth efficiency
and to ward off illnesses. Then, one day Russ was
gored by one of his hogs and nearly died from an
antibiotic-resistant infection. He realized the
danger posed by the overuse of antibiotics, and
immediately transformed his farm. Today his hogs are antibioticfree. Russ is the founder of the Ozark Mountain Pork Coop and the
president of the Missouri Farmers Union.
Michael Pollan — Michael Pollan is the author, most
recently, of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.
His previous book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural
History of Four Meals, was named one of the ten best
books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington
Post. He is also the author of The Botany of Desire:
A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, A Place of My Own,
and Second Nature. A contributing writer to the New
York Times Magazine, Pollan is the recipient of numerous journalistic
awards, including the James Beard Award for best magazine series in
2003 and the Reuters-I.U.C.N. 2000 Global Award for Environmental
Journalism.
Pollan served for many years as executive editor of
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Harper’s Magazine and is now the Knight Professor of Science and
Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley.
Joel Salatin — world-famous sustainable farmer and
entrepreneur, Joe Salatin and his farming methods are
hailed by Michael Pollan (also featured in FRESH),
author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Joel Salatin writes
in his website that he is “in the redemption business:
healing the land, healing the food, healing the
economy, and healing the culture.”
By closely
observing nature, Joel created a rotational grazing system that not
only allows the land to heal but also allows the animals to behave
the way the were meant to — as in expressing their “chicken-ness” or
“pig-ness”, as Joel would say.
“Let’s treat the herbivore like an herbivore first and then the other
things will fall into place.” – Joel Salatin
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CREDITS
Produced & Directed by
ana Sofia joanes
Edited by
Mona Davis
Additional Editing by
Jeremiah Zagar
Director of Photography
Valery “Lali” Lyman
Additional Camera Work by
Michael Fox, Dena Aronson, Jeremiah Zagar, Andrea Nielson & ana Sofia
joanes
Music by
David Majzlin
Performed by
Violin Annaliesa Place
Violin Brittany Boulding
Viola Natasha Lipkina
Cello Sophie Shao
Programming, piano, guitar David Majzlin
Mixed by David Majzlin
Recorded at
Germano Studios, NYC
Sound re-Recording Mixer
Tom Paul
Sound Designer
Eric Milano
Sound Facility
Gigantic Studios
Digital Intermediate Facility
Final Frame
Digital Intermediate Colorist
Stewart Griffin
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Digital Intermediate Editor
Joseph Lee
Digital Intermediate Producer
Kristen Molina
Animation by:
Yussef Cole
Poster Design by:
Tom Seltzer
Distribution & Outreach by:
Lisa Madison
Post Production Assistants
Andrea Nielsen
Frederik Boll
Saralena Weinfield
Archival Footage
Mosaic Films / King Corn
Ivan Bridgewater
Buffalo Field Campaign
Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc. (http://www.denniskunkel.com/)
Miranda Productions, Inc.
Pesticide Education Center
The Humane Farming Association
Beyond The Frame
BBC
Thought Equity
FRAMEPOOL
ABC News
Funding & Support by
Gigantic Studios
The Jerome Foundation
NYSCA (logo at http://nysca.org/public/grants/when_you_get.htm)
Yelp.com (logo attached)
Pam and Bill Michaelcheck
&
Ari Barkan
Aaron Cohen
Dahli Coles
Frances Cassidy
Paul Waimberg
Randolph Quinby
Charles Ewald
Elaine Brumberg
Rosemary Pritzker
Mark Giesecke
Fiscal Sponsor
IFP
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