Featured image: A still from the documentary “Food for the Rest of Us.” (Photo by Kiarash Sadigh.)
As I’ve started to watch more documentaries, my favourite kinds of documentaries end up being documentaries on subjects I know absolutely nothing about. That’s true with food activism, explored in the informative documentary Food for the Rest of Us, about four different groups of people from different walks of life, living off the land and each leading a food revolution.
These stories are set in Hawaii, Kansas City, Missouri and the Northwest Territories; with each group featured with sometimes similar goals, but completely different stories. The story set in Hawaii, for instance, is set on an organic farm where many employees are teens 17-24 who are signed to two-year contracts, pay their tuition and give them stipends. The theory goes, “When youth cultivate the land, the land cultivates them.”
The interview
I was able to speak with the minds behind the film, with the film’s director, co-writer and producer Caroline Cox, as well as producer and co-writer Tiffany Ayalik. In our conversation, we talked about their backgrounds, what brought them to a story like this one, and what food activism actually means.
We also talked about getting a grant from Robert Redford for the film, that “when youth cultivate the land, the land cultivates them” quote, traveling to the different cities to cover these stories and how long they stayed in each one, and much more in between.
You can watch that conversation on YouTube, and that is embedded below. As well, if you just want to listen to the podcast, that audio is available for download down below, as well.
Food for the Rest of Us continues its successful festival run as part of the Skabmagovat Indigenous Film Festival from Jan. 27 to Sunday, Jan. 30, and then going to Vancouver’s KDocsFF in February. Stay tuned to screenings here. As well, you can find the film on Facebook and on Instagram.
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