GAINING GROUND
A New Documentary Film by Elaine Velazquez & Barbara Bernstein
“I loved this film – how it rooted big issues within the narratives of such compelling individual personalities. Nothing was ignored – class, gender, race, environmental justice – yet at the same time we were swept up in the stories of the people before us rather than these issues coming at us as abstract political argument. The movie is sober about the obstacles to change while pointing the way toward hope at the same time.”
David Naimon, host of Healthwatch and Between the Covers, KBOO-FM
“What a GREAT film you have made and a GREAT contribution to changing the paradigm.”
Susan Banyas, multi-media artist, director, and educator
“Hopeful, critical, poetic. Lovely.”
Bill Bigelow, Curriculum Editor, Rethinking Schools
GAINING GROUND, a feature-length documentary film by Elaine Velazquez and Barbara Bernstein, tells personal stories of farmers making extraordinary changes in their farming practices to feed their local communities sustainably grown produce and grains. The documentary interweaves experiences of urban farmer-activists in inner city Richmond, California, a small family farm in rural Oregon converting from commodity dairy to chemical-free produce and a large farm in the Willamette Valley transitioning from grass seed to organic grains. The film personalizes class, gender, race and environmental justice issues by rooting them within narratives of compelling individuals. As these stories unfold, the film explores the devastating effects of the 2012 Chevron Richmond refinery fire on Urban Tilth in inner city Richmond and the impact of the 2013 discovery of GMO wheat in Eastern Oregon on Stalford Seed Farms in the Willamette Valley. While the movie is sober about the obstacles to creating change, at the same time it points the way toward hope. GAINING GROUND instills in its viewers the potential to create change on a personal, local and global scale. GAINING GROUND will be broadcast on public television, screened in theaters and film festivals around the country, streamed on the internet and released on DVD and Blu-ray disc for the home market. Please support the distribution of GAINING GROUND by clicking on the donate button above to help us get this film out as widely as possible. All donations are tax deductible.
