Greening the Desert

The Fields of Immokalee

For decades, migrant workers have worked the fields of Immokalee, harvesting tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, oranges and other produce that is then shipped across the United States of America. Many of the workers are undocumented, and attempting to keep their jobs even as federal migration crackdowns hover over the town. The Fields of Immokalee film follows the daily lives of tomato workers, from the 5:00am trips to the parking lot in hopes of finding day labor, to work sessions in the scorching mid-day heat, to child detention centers for migrant youth that have been separated from their families. Via these vignettes, the film offers insight into the most volatile political issue of our time.

But Beautiful

In his new film, Erwin Wagenhofer is looking for the good and beautiful in this world.

Good Stewards

Farmers alone cannot make our food system thrive - it’s up to all of us. That is the message of this enlightening and encouraging film. The good stewardship efforts being made by farmers, consumers and policy makers in the rapidly growing county of Ventura, California will inspire any community interested in preserving agricultural resources.

Kong Rice

The film tells the story of how Hong Kong rice farmers use their crops to pour time and strength into connecting Hong Kong people and their land. To stand up to the challenges Hong Kong nature offered, the farmers put effort into farming their own rice and spread their contribution in agriculture in order to enable Hongkongers to taste the rice from the very soil they stand on. The countless stories behind a bowl of local rice, which embeds the inseparable relationship between the land and its people, are told through this film.

There Will Be A Movie!

A documentary film about the work of stuntmen and camera operators in Soviet cinema, using the film "White Sun of the Desert" as an example.

Introduction à la vie rurale de l'avenir

The daily schedule is rational and step by step the farmer's tasks are carried out both in the household (ironing, making beds, raising children, making food) and in the yard (feeding animals, analyzing milk samples, making cheese, churning milk, work in the vegetable garden, collecting eggs). In the evening, she puts the children to bed and has some time left for some relaxing activities such as knitting or reading.

Echo in the Desert

In the vastness of the Iranian desert, young artists strive for freedom, community, and the preservation of their cultural heritage in the ancient caravanserai of Deyr-e Gachin, while facing the harsh conditions of their surroundings.

Aleph

Structured as a labyrinth-like game and inspired by Jorge Luis Borges, Aleph is a travelogue of experience, a dreamer's journey through the lives, experiences, stories and musings of protagonists spanning ten countries and five continents.

Guranay

This film is a realistic record of a sixty-year-old couple living in a remote village (Gurenay) in the Badain Jaran Desert of Alashan, Inner Mongolia plant thousands of mu of ammodendron and euphratica to fight against expanding deserts.

Flood in the Desert

Explore the 1928 collapse of the St. Francis Dam, the second deadliest disaster in California history. A colossal engineering and human failure, the dam was built by William Mulholland, a self-taught engineer who ensured the growth of Los Angeles by bringing the city water via aqueduct. The catastrophe killed more than 400 people and destroyed millions of dollars of property.

The Hunters

An ethnographic documentary following four Ju/’hoansi (!Kung) men during a multi-day giraffe hunt in the Kalahari Desert, filmed during the Smithsonian–Harvard Peabody expedition of 1952–53.

A Distant Noise

During the rice sowing season, Jun, a young Catalan of Chinese origin, works as a seasonal worker in the Ebro Delta. This ancient labour will make him confront his own roots and the distance that separates him from his family.

Half a Summer on Waterpenny Farm

24 years ago, Nick's parents started a small vegetable farm in Sperryville, Virginia, and he spent his childhood among the farm's fields and flowers. This summer, Nick is back at the farm to visit for a month and a half. And he's trying to make a movie about it.

Sortes

Beneath the harvest sun and the cicada song, Mónica Martins Nunes builds a touching portrait of Serra de Serpa, an arid region in the south of Portugal affected by rural exodus. The poems sung by the shepherds and market traders resonate like the last gesture of a human landscape which resists sinking into oblivion.

King Corn

King Corn is a fun and crusading journey into the digestive tract of our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial, pesticide-laden, heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food pyramid from top to bottom – corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naiveté, two college buddies return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa to figure out how a modest kernel conquered America. With the help of some real farmers, oodles of fertilizer and government aide, and some genetically modified seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the hilarious absurdities and scary but hidden truths about America’s modern food system in this engrossing and eye-opening documentary.

Tending to the Soul

In rural Alabama, Freedom Farm Azul stands as a sanctuary for nourishment, education, and healing. Through intimate interviews and lush imagery, this poetic documentary explores how land stewardship becomes an act of resistance, restoration, and collective care.

Riða

A documentary about the history of scrapie in Iceland.

Die Bio-Revolution - Die Karriere der ökologischen Landwirtschaft

The Heroes of the Massacre River

The Heroes of the Massacre River is a powerful documentary that chronicles the stories of the pioneers behind the construction of the historic Canal of Ouanaminthe, a project that united Haitians across the nation and the diaspora. This film celebrates the groundbreaking efforts of key figures, centering on Dr. Bertrhude Albert, Dr. Naismy-Mary Fleurant, architect Wideline Pierre, economist Etzer Emile as well as dedicated canal workers Milourie Sylfrard, Theodore Johnson and Joseph Pressoir — all guided by the investigative journey of Max Angie Clervil. It also serves as a commentary on the complexity of colonialism and borders, tracing the role that the Massacre River continues to play in the history of Ayiti.

Rural Youth

This film, with an autobiographical flavor, was shot in part on the very premises where Father Proulx grew up and highlights the importance of agriculture and the very special attention given to rural youth in the from the Government of Quebec. The farm and its little world are presented during the four seasons: the introduction of children to agricultural work, the holidays, the return to school. From November to the end of April, the older ones take courses in the various agricultural schools scattered across Quebec. In addition to studying the methods of cultivation and breeding, they receive notions of carpentry, blacksmithing and other lessons likely to be useful in their future work as farmers. In the spring, the young girls go to secondary schools of agriculture to learn domestic art, beekeeping, weaving, sewing, etc.