Farming While Black - Free Film Screening

Event Description:

Bioneers and the David Brower Center present , a Kontent Films production and feature-length documentary film which examines the historical plight of Black farmers in the United States and the rising generation reclaiming their rightful ownership to land and reconnecting with their ancestral roots.

This film screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A with Mark Decena, Director / Writer / Producer of the film and founder of Kontent Films.

About the Film:

As the co-founder of Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York, Leah Penniman finds strength in the deep historical knowledge of African agrarianism – agricultural practices that can heal people and the planet. Influenced and inspired by Karen Washington, a pioneer in urban community gardens in New York City, and fellow farmer and organizer Blain Snipstal, Leah galvanizes around farming as the basis of revolutionary justice.

In 1910, Black farmers owned 14 percent of all American farmland. Over the intervening decades, that number fell below two percent, the result of racism, discrimination, and dispossession. The film chronicles Penniman and two other Black farmers’ efforts to reclaim their agricultural heritage. Collectively, their work has a major impact, as each is a leader in sustainable agriculture and food justice movements. 

Film Length: 75 min

Schedule:

• 6pm: Lobby opens for networking and tabling
• 6:30pm: Theater doors open
• 7pm: Program and screening begins
• 8:15pm: Panel with filmmaker and farmers, facilitated by Nazshonnii Brown-Almaweri

Calls to Action:

To learn more about Black Farmer priorities: Federation of Southern Cooperatives

To fund Black land sovereignty: Black Farmer Fund

To support Afro-Indigenous food sovereignty: Soul Fire Farm, Black Dirt Farm Collective, and Rise & Root Farm

Hear from the Audience:

The film was equally beautiful as it was powerful.

The film masterfully wove together a lot of different narratives into one story that felt cohesive and impactful.

Loved the film! A great job structurally, balancing the different characters & storylines, and deciding when to connect them. No easy feat! Shot beautifully, great score and editing too. 

The film was so beautifully done and told such an important story with depth and integrity. I was immersed the whole time and it has prompted reflections since.

I loved the film, beautiful cinematography, music and images and such a great telling of history. 

The impact of the film and of the conversation that followed was profound. In fact, it was important to feature Farming While Black because it masterfully depicts both historic and contemporary issues. That event, as with all others, filled to capacity. Pretty phenomenal, given that the screening was on a weeknight. But the hunger for informed discourse is such that the event sold out (figuratively, given that it was free). In fact, the audience and panelists were so engaged that the conversation would have continued if not for the fact that the venue had to close. Thank you for allowing us to feature the documentary. It was quite the hit. 

- AfroMundo.org

Host or Publisher David Brower Center & Bioneers