Farmageddon

An outcast in his community, Farmer John bravely stands amidst a failing economy, vicious rumors, and violence. By melding the traditions of family farming with the power of art and free expression, this powerful story of transformation and renewal heralds a resurrection of farming in America. Through highly personal interviews and 50 years of beautifully textured footage, filmmaker Taggart Siegel shares Farmer John’s haunting and humorous odyssey, capturing what it means to be wildly different in a rural community.

On November 27, 1978 San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were killed by their colleague, Supervisor Dan White. The murder tore San Francisco's political scene apart and made people question whether junk food, Twinkies, could drive someone to murder.

Local, organic, and sustainable are words we associate with food production today, but 40 years ago, when Fran and Tony McQuail started farming in Southwestern Ontario, they were barely spoken. Since 1973, the McQuails have been helping to build the organic farming community and support the next generation of organic farmers. This is a documentary about the McQuails that explores the very real ways their farm has contributed to the long term ecological viability of agriculture in Ontario. It is a call to action for all those who believe there is a better way to take care of our planet and feed the world.

Milk is Big Business. Behind the innocent appearances of the white stuff lies a multi-billion euro industry, which perhaps isn't so innocent…

Sepp Holzer explains some of the innovative, labour-saving agricultural techniques he applies at his farm in the Eastern Alps of Salzburg, Austria.

In a moving narration, actor and activist Alec Baldwin exposes the truth behind humanity's cruelest invention: the factory farm. This documentary explores the treatment of animals in modern animal agriculture (also known as industrial agriculture or factory farming).

In 1923, Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian scientist, philosopher & social innovator, predicted that in 80 to 100 years honeybees would collapse. Now, beekeepers around the United States and around the world are reporting an incredible loss of honeybees, a phenomenon deemed "Colony Collapse Disorder." This "pandemic" is indicated by bees disappearing in mass numbers from their hives with no clear single explanation. The queen is there, honey is there, but the bees are gone. For the first time, in an alarming inquiry into the insights behind Steiner's prediction QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? investigates the long-term causes behind the dire global bee crisis through the eyes of biodynamic beekeepers, commercial beekeepers, scientists and philosophers.

With dazzling nature photography, Academy Award®–nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full) takes a global examination of endangered honeybees — spanning California, Switzerland, China and Australia — more ambitious than any previous work on the topic.

At the focal point of this movement, and of this film, are the farmers and chefs who are creating a truly sustainable food system. Their collaborative work has resulted in great tasting food and an explosion of consumer awareness about the benefits of eating local. Attention being paid to the local food movement comes at a time when the failings of our current industrialized food system are becoming all too clear. For the first time in history, our children'€™s generation is expected to have a shorter lifespan than our own. The quality, taste and nutritional value of the food we eat has dropped sharply over the last fifty years. Shipped from ever-greater distances, we have literally lost sight of where our food comes from and in the process, we've lost a vital connection to our local community and to our health.