Film2FarmAid Film Fest

Kick off 30 years of Farm Aid this week!

Join us as Farm Aid celebrates thirty years and hosts its first ever Film Fest! Three evenings will feature films on the challenges, victories, and everything in between that makes family farming a worthy dirt-under-your-nails lifestyle. Kicking off Thursday’s program of short films, Sue Arbuthnot and Richard Wilhelm of Hare in the Gate productions have curated a fantastic lineup featuring several shorts from our Real Food Films collection. Our very own Christina Bronsing-Lazalde will be leading a Q&A panel following the screening and Dustin Hughes of Bread will also be joining us from Los Angeles.And — not to be missed: On Saturday, September 17, a panel discussion will feature local family farmers; Carolyn Mugar, Farm Aid’s executive director; and Sarah Vogel, lead counsel in Coleman v. Block, a national class action that stopped farm foreclosures and is featured in the closing scene of the film Country.Each evening, a post-screening reception will feature local foods, beer and wine at the rooftop farm at McCormick Place.

Films scheduled for screening include:

  • Country, directed by Richard Pearce and written and produced by William Wittliff
  • Dryland, by Sue Arbuthnot and Richard Wilhelm
  • Brookford Almanac, by Cozette Russell
  • The Last Barn Dance, by Ted Richardson and Jason Arthurs
  • Food Patriots, by Jeff Spitz
  • Food Forward: Urban Farming, by Greg Roden
  • Century Farm, by Melissa Gregory Rue
  • Isabelle’s Garden, by Jeffrey Palmer
  • A Chicago Ranch, by Donald Jay O’Brien
  • Harmony Gardens, by Solomon Horner*
  • A Greene Generation, by Tim Alden Grant*
  • Food Hero: Kristin Carbone, by Shalini Kantayya and Real Food Media Project*
  • Bread, by Dustin Hughes*
  • The Berry Picker, by Allison Milligan*
  • Our Work is Life, by Luke McKinley*
*Film is a past Real Food Media Contest finalist and/or included in the Real Food Films film library