IDFA 2016 - BEAUTIFUL STORIES IN FILM: PART 3

This week, we are featuring beautiful stories, as told by filmmakers whose films are being featured at IDFA 2016. Two films of note, tell powerful stories about food. One presents a shocking truth and dire warning, while the other is pure riveting fantasy. Check them out below.

SEED: THE UNTOLD STORY

While we know many animal species are endangered and many have already gone extinct, there is an even bigger, more catastrophic extinction underway that has mostly gone unreported.

In the 20th century, over 96% of our seed varieties have disappeared, as industrial agriculture began to rely upon chemicals and genetically modified mono cultured seed forced into the market by companies, such as Monsanto & Bayer.

In “Seed: The Untold Story,” a powerful new film, directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz, explores a topic that is still largely unknown, yet it is increasingly urgent with climate change and the consolidation and control of the seed industry.

We learn about the shocking danger we face as our food supplies around the world are threatened by disease, insect infestations, climate change, and other vulnerabilities that come with the monoculture of seeds.

When Ireland began to rely on just one variety of potato, a staple crop, it set the stage for the Irish Potato Famine in the mid-19th century, as a prime example. Today, most of the world’s food crops are at similar risk, including the some of the most dominant staple crops, such as corn.

The impending collapse of the world’s supplies of bananas, oranges, coffee, and coconuts — each due to an over-reliance on a single seed variety. Even wheat is under threat.

In addition there is a tragic toll to farmers as they buckle under financial pressure. They are forced to pay hefty licensing fees to plant patented GMO seeds. And they are wiped out when their monoculture crops are wiped out.

If they attempt to save their own seed at the end of a season, following a tradition practiced by humans for over 12,000 years, farmers face ruthless prosecution. Unable to manage, over 250,000 farmers in India have committed suicide in the last 20 years.

While it tells an ugly frightening story, the film is beautifully shot, with gorgeous lighting and stunning close-ups of a rainbow collection of seeds.

The film offers hope, as seeds collectors, seed libraries, community gardens, and a new generation of passionate young farmers around the world challenge the death-spiral, refusing to use agri-chemicals and saving ancient seed varieties in seed banks and grow-out farms.

Wild and heirloom fruits and vegetables can save the day -- and our palates.

Watch the trailer here.

WOLVESMOUTH

“Freedom is more important than money,” according to Craig Thornton. His culinary salons, known as the Wolvesmouth “communal dinner parties,” offer of hotbed of creative food and conversation. They are open to all, on a pay-as-you-wish basis.

Documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker gives us a taste in her new film, “Wolvesmouth.”

We learn about Thornton’s dire early childhood, growing up in a trailer park in Arizona, with a violent crystal meth cooking stepfather and addict mother. His grandmother rescued and raised him, teaching him to cook in the process.

Today, using a plate as a palette, Thornton creates stunning, baroque edible artworks.

Watch the short film here.

Read more about IDFA 2016 film favorites in IDFA 2016 - Beautiful Stories in Film: Part 1 and Beautiful Stories of the Great Animal Orchestra.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
2. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
3. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
4. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
5. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
6. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
7. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
8. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
9. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
10. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
11. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
12. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
13. Image: Courtesy of Good 'N Proper. “Wolvesmouth.” Film directed by Lucy Walker.
14. Image: Courtesy of Good 'N Proper. “Wolvesmouth.” Film directed by Lucy Walker.
15. Image: Courtesy of Good 'N Proper. “Wolvesmouth.” Film directed by Lucy Walker.
16. Image: Courtesy of Good 'N Proper. “Wolvesmouth.” Film directed by Lucy Walker.
17. Image: Courtesy of Collective Eye Films. “Seed: The Untold Story.” Film directed by Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz.
18. Image: by BN App - Download now!
19. Image: Courtesy of Good 'N Proper. “Wolvesmouth.” Film directed by Lucy Walker.