Food Security

THE BIRTH OF SAKE is a cinematic documentary that reveals the story behind passionate sake-makers and what it takes to make world-class sake at Yoshida Brewery, a 144-year- old family-owned small brewery in northern Japan. The workers at Yoshida Brewery are an eclectic cast of characters, ranging from 20 to 70 years old. Currently, stiff competition and the eventual retirement of experienced workers intensify the pressure of preserving quality of taste, tradition and brand reputation for Yoshida Brewery. Surrounded by 1,000 competitors, Yoshida must surface as a worthy contender in a market overrun by choices. While the narrative follows the brewery's energy and ambition to survive, the characters remain central to the storytelling. As artisans who must dedicate their whole lives to the making of this world-class sake, their private sacrifices are often sizable and unseen.

Over the past three decades, obesity rates in the U.S. have more than doubled for children and tripled for adolescents -- and a startling 70% of adults are now obese or overweight. The result has been a widening epidemic of obesity-related health problems, including coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes. While discussions about this spiraling health crisis have tended to focus on the need for more exercise and individual responsibility, FEEDING FRENZY trains its focus squarely on the responsibility of the processed food industry and the outmoded government policies it benefits from. It lays bare how taxpayer subsidies designed to feed hungry Americans during the Great Depression have enabled the food industry to flood the market with a rising tide of cheap, addictive, high calorie food products, and offers an engrossing look at the tactics of the multi billion-dollar marketing machine charged with making sure that every one of those surplus calories is consumed.

You are what you eat. It is a simple expression that bears scary implications as you watch the acclaimed documentary, FOOD, INC. Director Robert Kenner draws upon the searing reportage of authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) to explore how modern developments in food production pose grave risks to our health and environment. These writers aren't radicals or even vegetarians (Schlosser admits that his favourite meal is a hamburger and fries), but they are crusaders when it comes to exposing problems and naming offenders. There are stories of heartbreak and outrage, but the film carefully channels these emotions towards opportunities for activism. Watching FOOD, INC. gives you a strong appetite for better meals.

Seven countries, seven popular markets, seven cultures. The first documentary of its kind, FROM THE LAND TO YOUR TABLE shows the perspectives of seven Ibero-American filmmakers as they capture the conditions and cultural diversity of popular produce markets in their individual countries.

We've been warned about the impending disasters facing our food supply - GOOD FOOD, BAD FOOD shows us that solutions to "McFood" do exist. Farmers, philosophers and economists have their say in this revealing documentary about the environment and the consequences of big agribusiness. Filmmaker Coline Serreau delivers a refreshing and optimistic message on the state of cultivation by exploring organic and local alternatives to the global food production industry.

As social-distancing measures set in during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kristin Catherwood moved back to her family’s farm to stay with her widowed father. Spring brings the usual urgency to plant the year’s crops, and Kristin starts thinking about planting her vegetable garden—a garden that brings deep memories of her mother and grandmothers.

Filmmaker/activist Melaw Nakehk’o has spent the pandemic with her family at a remote land camp in the Northwest Territories, “getting wood, listening to the wind, staying warm and dry, and watching the sun move across the sky.” In documenting camp life—activities like making fish leather and scraping moose hide—she anchors the COVID experience in a specific time and place.

Set in the northern wilds surrounding the tiny sub-Arctic town of Dawson City, Yukon, Sovereign Soil is an ode to the beauty of this ferocious, remote land and the wisdom of those who’ve chosen to call it home.

What is fatphobia and what can be done to overcome it? With poetic illustrations and painful, compelling testimony, Tales of Ordinary Fatphobia offers multiple examples of the psychological effects of weight-based discrimination and bullying on adolescent girls.

Beginning with sushi, Japanese cuisine is familiar all over the world today. At Japanese restaurants, you can see people, regardless of their ethnicity, enjoying this food culture. There is a passionate story behind the men and women who dedicated their lives to spreading traditional Japanese cuisine, or Wa-shoku, recognized throughout the world today.