Growing Local
Growing Local: a three-part film series at the Belfast Free Library
Local Food & Farming fans: Listen up!
Maine Farmland Trust (MFT), the Belfast Free Library and the Belfast Coop are co-sponsoring a 3-part film series in the Abbott room at the Belfast Free Library on Tuesday May 11, 18 and 25. Films will begin at 6:30, free of charge, and will be followed by a short discussion.
On May 11th, the series will be kicked off by Maine Farmland Trust - a statewide non-profit which works to preserve farmland and keep Maine’s farms farming. Last year, MFT commissioned local filmmakers Cecily Pingree and Jason Mann, from Pull-Start Pictures, to create eight short documentaries which tell the diverse stories of eight Maine farms: from Aroostook to York, from potatoes to dairy, from large commercial operations to small farms that sell directly to local people. The result: “Meet Your Farmer,” will premier on June 25th at the Strand Theatre in Rockland; May 11th will be a unique pre-screening for the local Belfast audience, featuring four of the eight shorts followed by a presentation by MFT’s executive director John Piotti. (www.mainefarmlandtrust.org)
Says Piotti: “These short films are real gems. The cinematography is beautiful, and the interviews with farmers are so personal. You are left with a real gratitude for the work they do, day in – day out, to grow the food that feeds us.”
On May 18th, come and see DIRT! The Movie, directed and produced by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow, and narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis. DIRT!, hailed as thought-provoking, with welcome humor and pizzazz, will take you inside the wonders of the soil. The official selection for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, this film emphasizes that soils are living, breathing systems. Yet, in modern industrial pursuits, our human connection and respect for soil has been disrupted. A Q&A led by Rick Kersbergen from the UMaine Extension will follow the film.
DIRT! The Movie brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has. Healthy gardens, healthy people, healthy communities begin with healthy dirt! (http://dirtthemovie.org/)
The series will end on May 25th with a film from the UK, In Transition 1.0 (generously provided by Transition Towns Rockland). “In Transition” is the first detailed film about the Transition movement filmed by those that know it best, those who are making it happen on the ground. The Transition movement is about communities around the world responding to peak oil and climate change with creativity, imagination and humor, and setting about rebuilding their local economies and communities. It is positive, solutions focused, viral and fun. (http://transitionculture.org/in-transition/ )
Members of the community in Belfast, Lincolnville, Hope and Rockland who have participated in the Transition Towns Training and plan to introduce this powerful model locally, will be present to introduce themselves, share their vision, and answer questions.
For more information call the Belfast Free Library at 338-3884 ext 10.