Club Events 2006: 2006-02-15: CCC - The Real Dirt on Farmer John - Arusha Action Film Series #4
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| Arusha Action Film Series #4 - The Real Dirt on Farmer John\n \nPremiering the feature film The Real Dirt on Farmer John on Wednesday,\nFebruary 15 at 7PM at the Uptown Theatre (612 8 Ave SW). This event will\nalso showcase local organic farmer Kris Vesters of Blue Mountain Bio-dynamic \nFarms. $10, 100% Calgary Dollars accepted. Tickets available at the Arusha\nCentre, Sunnyside Market and at the door. Action Films screenings are the\nthird Wednesday of every month.\n \nThe Real Dirt on Farmer John is a documentary about John Peterson, a farmer, \nartist, and revolutionary innovative thinker cast in rural Illinois.\nFilmmaker Taggart Siegel has documented John's struggle to redefine his\nfamily farm for over twenty years, witnessing the colorful drama of John's \nlife. Photographs and home movies spanning 70 years juxtapose with dynamic\nrecent footage.\n \nWith the death of his father during the 60s, John turns his traditional\nfamily farm into an experiment of art and agriculture, making it a haven for \nhippies, radicals and artists. The Real Dirt on Farmer John charts the end\nof this idealistic era as the farm debt crisis of the 80s brings about the\ntragic collapse of the farm. As the intricate weave of rural America \nunravels, vicious local rumors turn John into a scapegoat, condemning him as\na Satan-worshipping drug-dealer. Threatened with murder, his home burned to\nthe ground, John forsakes his farm and wanders the ancient lands of Central \nAmerica. Mysteriously, his quest leads him back to his hostile homeland.\nDefying all odds, he gradually transforms his land into a revolutionary\nfarming community. At the film's close, the Peterson family farm is one of \nthe largest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the United\nStates. Out of the ruins of single-crop agriculture, John creates Angelic\nOrganics, an extended farm village where people and art can thrive alongside \nagriculture. \n\n Very very interesting, and entertaining. The evening started with an introduction to Arusha and then a film about Calgary Dollars. Then, we received a bit of a talk from a local organic farmer. Lastly, the film, which chronicled the entire life (so far) of a farmer starting with his mother's home movies from the (I think) 1940s. The family had a 350 acre farm at that time. John (the farmer)'s father died when John was just a young man and running the family farm fell to John. He's a really interesting character and took the farm through a phase of hippie-commune style partying and artist stuff... ultimately he had to sell off most of the farm and tried numerous times to revive it, without success, until converting it to a community supported project. Very worth seeing. Thanks to Julie for suggesting it.\n -- Rhonda
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