Third Annual Food Film Fest

posted by brooklynfoodconference, on April 13, 2009

Last week I attended part of the third annual Food for Thought Film Festival, hosted by the Action Center to End World Hunger as part of a daylong series of events.  I took in Flow, a new documentary about the world water crisis, directed by Irena Salina. This shocking, important film focuses on the contaminants in the world’s water supply, which kill some 2 million people a year, most of them less than five years of age. It also shows how the privatization of the water supply is choking off natural resources around the world. It’s devastating to see companies like Suez and Nestle making billions on selling communities’ water, but heartening to see people, even in the poorest places, come together to defend their rights.

The movie comes down strongly in favor of acting locally. For example, in one critic’s comments on the World Bank’s dam projects, which displace millions: “It’s easier to spend a billion in one place than to spend $1,000 in a million places.” Small-scale solutions range from water harvesting in India (the charming creator of this project was a crowd favorite) to Play Pumps (water pumps powered by children at play). The film also calls for a new article to be added to the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights — the right to water.

After the screening, Challey Comer, who works with upstate farmers, and Betsy Damon, a sculptor and founder of Keepers of the Waters (who, by the way, gave me my first job in NYC), led a discussion with the attendees. As some agonized over whether tap water is really safe to drink, Ms. Damon cut through the questioning with: “Get a filter and get active.” (Both she and Challey agreed that a Britta-type filter doesn’t count; Ms. Damon’s filter was designed by NASA.)

After the conference, fellow Brooklyn Food Conference volunteer Nicole Peyrafitte and I enjoyed delectable lemon-flavored ricotta by Salvatore Bklyn and bread from Hot Bread Kitchen.

-Wendy Blake

The film festival will continue next Saturday, April 18th, in Washington Heights. See FoodFilmFest.com for details.