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Kickapoo Film Festival
Saturday 7/26/08, 6:00-9:00pm
Organic Valley's Milky Way Café
6:00 PM As We Sow: Jan Weber
As farmers leave the land in record numbers, agribusiness and the associated industrialization of agriculture continue to expand. The consequences "intended and unintended" of this rapid restructuring of our food system reach well beyond the boundaries of what we think of as "the family farm." The award-winning documentary short , AS WE SOW, documents the stories of survival and failure in the real heartland, a struggle pitting family against family, neighbor against neighbor, citizens against their government, and small, independent farmers against the giants of global agribusiness. At the center is the land itself: who will control it and how, and at what cost to people and communities, to our health and our environment, and, ultimately, to our democracy.
Jan Weber returned to the rural Midwest to document the changes that have taken place there since she left for New York City some 35 years ago for a career in television and film production. Over that time she has produced, directed, and written commercials, corporate programs, network pilots, and co-produced two feature films. As We Sow is Jan's first documentary. Since the initial production in Iowa, she has continued to document farms and farmers there as well as in Wisconsin (her home state), Missouri, Colorado, New York, and California. She is currently working on a new documentary which expands on the issues first presented in As We Sow.
6:45 Keeping the Lights On: Gretta Wing Miller and Aarick Beher
Most people don't know how the electricity they use is produced in Wisconsin, more than 70% of the electricity is produced by burning coal. Coal is abundant, and coal is cheap. But it is cheap only if the environmental and societal impacts are disregarded.
Keeping the Lights On begins its look at the impacts of coal burning on the day that representatives from Dairyland Power Cooperative in Genoa, Wisconsin knocked on farmers' doors and told them, "Your farm has been chosen as a landfill site." As shocking as taking family-farmland for a toxic waste dump seems, it is just the most egregious of the plans some of our electric utilities have up their sleeves. It seems as if Wisconsin's electric utilities are racing to build new coal-burning power plants or retrofit their existing bygone-era dinosaurs before new emission regulations penalize the foolishness of such endeavor. This is not a good faith effort by our public utilities who mislead us into thinking that they are leading Wisconsin in the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable future. It is a cynical business decision based on the assumption that any project completed or in the works will be grandfathered in when the regulations are implemented. Within the story of Vernon County's resistance to the landfill project, the film explores the reasons this electric utility seeks a waste dump, and will make you question why we are still burning coal in the 21st century.
Gretta Wing Miller has been a film & video editor and instructor since 1978, working most extensively on documentary television series and specials (American Masters, National Geographic). She taught film editing at Hunter College (CUNY) in the 1980s, and, more recently, Digital Filmmaking in the College for Kids program through the UW-Madison.
Aarick Beher is a long-time musician and music producer, working with many of the most creative artists and song writers in Madison, Wisconsin. Gretta and Aarick have collaborated as Picture & Sound on many projects since 2001, and they are currently funding their independent projects by creating affordable documentary video and audio for independent artists and non-profit organizations.
7:30 The Organic Opportunity: Small Farms & Economic Development: Chris Bedford
The Organic Opportunity tells the story of Woodbury County, Iowa's innovative economic development campaign centered on the development of local, organic agriculture. 
The film explores Woodbury County's pioneering program of (1) economic development tax rebates for farmers who transition to organic, (2) county purchasing that prioritizes local, organic food, and (3) financing for new, small farmers committed to organic agriculture. It is a story of hope and practical steps any community can take to build a thriving local economy. "The Organic Opportunity" is not just about organic food—it is a great story that demonstrates how local communities can create a different food system which provides its citizens with wonderful food, makes it possible for young farmers to remain in the community and farm, while simultaneously improving the community's economy. And Woodbury County in Iowa did it all without any help from Washington DC. " —Fred Kirschenmann
Chris Bedford has created, organized, and directed some of the most innovative grassroots media campaigns of the last 25 years. His work often deals with the toughest and most complex issues of our time. In the process, he has won numerous awards for creative excellence for his writing, film making and radio production. Today he works as a filmmaker, and as a strategic campaign/organizing consultant helping communities meet the challenges of our rapidly growing economic, social and environmental crisis. He also is a popular public speaker—integrating two decades of grassroots experience with a larger understanding of systems and change AND a clear vision for the future.
