A day on the farm with the David and Ada Schwartz family in the Indiana Amish community.
Social & External
The Devil's Playground is a fascinating and moving documentary about a little-known aspect of Amish life. Amish are not permitted to join the church until their late teens, and have to do so of their own volition. The film explores Rumspringa, wherein young Amish are given the opportunity to explore the "English" way of life.
India's prosperous Green Revolution was led by Punjab, a state in northern India famous for its lush rice fields and wet, fertile soil. But as farmers are conned into buying more and more pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers that they don't need, which demand often ten times more water, the water table is sinking at an alarming rate. Punjab's water has been poisoned by the chemicals, and the farmers poison their bodies with opium, helping them to work longer and harder. Loans from a middleman are taken out, with extortionate interest rates that are impossible to pay back. As a result, hundreds of Punjabi families are left without a father, husband or son as more and more farmers cave in under the pressure and drink their own chemicals to end their lives.
Clear-eyed and intimate, Farmsteaders follows Nick Nolan and his young family on a journey to resurrect his late grandfather’s dairy farm as agriculture moves toward large-scale farming. A study of place and persistence, Farmsteaders points an honest and tender lens at everyday life in rural America, offering an unexpected voice for a forsaken people: those who grow the food that sustains us.
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.
A documentary short examining the language and performance of auctioneering, filmed at the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship in Pennsylvania.
Documentary about three sisters in the small village Gallejaur. They live on a farm which they run in the same way it was run in the 19th century.
Farrebique, the first feature-length effort of French documentary filmmaker Georges Rouqier, is widely regarded as his finest film. Rouqier concentrates on a single French farm family, following them through the four seasons. As in the works of Robert Flaherty, the human characters and the land surrounding them are "one", and Rouqier never misses an opportunity to parallel their lives with the eons-old phases of nature. The final symbolic images of Spring, achieved through time-lapse photography, are almost unbearably beautiful. The winner of several festival awards, Farrebique nonetheless did not immediately result in an outpouring of financing for Rouqier's follow-up films (this was a common problem in the financially strapped French film industry of the 1940s). Perhaps as a result, Rouqier did not make his sequel, Biquefarre (filmed in the same region, with some of the same "actors"), until 1983.
A strange story from Somerset, England about a filmmaking farmer and the inspiring legacy of his long-lost home movies.
Household effects and farm implements under the hammer. Here is the auctioneer's cajoling patter, the jostling crowd, pungent observations from one or two old-timers and, over all, the kindly curiosity of folks who gather to see the end of a neighbour's life on the farm.
A lyrical portrait of an excommunicated Amish woodworker struggling with spirituality, poverty, and life as an outcast from his strict, insular community.
Cows With No Name is almost a diary, filmed one day at a time, of each stage of this process, documenting the operation of the farm with critical and incisive humour. But it is also an intimate documentary. By filming scenes of daily life on the family farm, around the kitchen table during meals, or in front of the TV in the evening while everyone falls asleep on the sofa, more personal questions are raised: the farmer’s connection to his herd, or even the handover that Hubert has chosen not to ensure.
When Werner Herzog was still a child, his father was beaten to death before his eyes. His mother was overwhelmed with his upbringing and thereupon shipped him off to one of the toughest youth welfare institutions in Freistatt. This was followed by a career as a bouncer in the city's most notorious music club and an attempt to start a family. Today, the 77-year-old from Bielefeld lives with his dog Lucky in a lonely house in the country. Despite adverse living conditions, he has survived in his own unique and inimitable way.
"LIDA" takes place on the day of Lida's 70th birthday. This already special day is made more unusual by the recent arrival of her grandson, Lev, who had immigrated to the United States with his family in 2001. Returning to Ukraine for the first time as an adult, Lev documents his grandmother as she tends to the small homestead and prepares for the birthday celebration in the rural village in Ukraine. By capturing moments of arduous labor, as well as through personal conversation, Lev inquires into his grandmothers relationship to her home, land - and their family.
Documentary following the lives of two Amish families leaving the only world they've ever known and trying to get to grips with the modern world. The Amish travel by horse and buggy and dress exactly as their forebears did when they first arrived in America almost 300 years ago. They have countless rules which keep them separate from the modern world, with electric lights, mobile phones, television and radio all forbidden. For those born into this culture, leaving is the biggest decision they'll ever make.
This film presents geographic and cultural aspects of Italy with an account of one family living on a small farm, who, unlike many Italians seeking modernization, avoid mechanization in preference for a simple way of life.
In the tradition of ETRE ET AVOIR and some of THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL Fifty children of mountain farmers, six miles of walking to school, a childhood in the heart of Switzerland.
Cyrille, a young gay farmer from Auvergne, has only one friend, a homosexual like him. One day, he goes on vacation to a beach in Charente Maritime. He cannot swim and sees the sea for the first time. It was there that he met the director Rodolphe Marconi who decided to devote this sensitive and gentle portrait to him, plunging us into an agricultural world in crisis and into a life often lonely and made up of hard work rarely pays off.
Documentary portrait of 5 farming families and their struggles
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
A glimpse into the raw and simple power of nature through encounters with farm animals: the eponymous Gunda, a mother pig; two cows, and a one-legged chicken.
A documentary shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
Sheds light on an alternative approach to farming called “regenerative agriculture” that could balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies, and feed the world.
The successes and failures of a couple determined to live in harmony with nature on a farm outside of Los Angeles are lovingly chronicled by filmmaking farmer John Chester, in this inspiring documentary.
Years spent recording footage of creatures from every corner of the globe is bound to produce a bit of drama. Here's a behind-the-scenes look.
One Life captures unprecedented and beautiful sequences of animal behaviour guaranteed to bring you closer to nature than ever before, as well as a second disc packed full of never before seen extras including an exclusive making of featurette narrated by Daniel Craig.
A documentary that explores the downloading revolution; the kids that created it, the bands and the businesses that were affected by it, and its impact on the world at large.
Follow the evolution of the 'Halloween' movies over the past twenty-five years. It examines why the films are so popular and revisits many of the original locations used in the films - seeing the effects on the local community. For the first time, cast, crew, critics and fans join together in the ultimate 'Halloween' retrospective.
Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from The Band's incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.
A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.
Retrospective documentary about the making of the horror cult classic "The Return of the Living Dead."
A chronicle of the life, work and mind that created the Cthulhu mythos.
The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.
Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.
An unflinching look at the how the battle over abortion rights has played out in the United States over the last 15 years.
A documentary focused on plastic pollution in the world's oceans.
JB Smoove and Martin Starr host a celebration of 20 years of "Spider-Man" movies, from the Sam Raimi trilogy to Marc Webb's movies and the trio from Jon Watts.
BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.
