What's Organic About Organic?

The Colorado Springs Independent gives a stellar review for anticipating audiences at the Indie Spirit Film Festival:

They may show work from all over the place, but one of the best things about film festivals can be their connection to the host community.

Take the Indie Spirit Film Festival, happening this weekend at Colorado College. The 2011 lineup will span horror, shorts, documentaries and big-festival films, such as Charlie Casanova (shown at SXSW). The opening-night film, On the Ice, is a nail-biter set in Barrow, Alaska. But as in all three previous years, the festival also will include some Colorado-focused productions, including one film in particular that has a tie to Colorado Springs.

What’s Organic About Organic? filmmaker Shelley Rogers traveled around the country exploring what goes into the making of organic products. Among others, she interviews Andy Grant of Grant Family Farms in Wellington, which offers a popular community-supported agriculture program in town.

Though it revolves around a well-covered subject, Rogers’ 59-minute documentary feels refreshing. Unlike many of its competitors, What’s Organic About Organic? isn’t about how American society is doomed; instead, it looks at the possibility of improvement, taking advantage of the farmers’ good humor as they explain what growing organic really means. And it shows these men and women up close as they look over their land, making theirs a personal fight to stay afloat as they compete against mega-farms in other states.

“It’s a call to action,” says Megan Andreozzi Harris, Grant Family Farms’ Colorado Springs CSA representative. “Yet it’s unique because it presents the problem and solution in a one-on-one way.”

In its fourth year, Indie Spirit has proven unique in and of itself. The Independent Film Society of Colorado’s brainchild is the youngest of Colorado Springs’ three major, established film festivals. The others rely on distinct themes, but Matthew Stevens, Jim Turner and Chris Loud have organized Indie Spirit around a loose idea.

“While the Pikes Peak Lavender Film Festival and the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival are wonderful, they are also specific,” says Stevens, director of operations. “We saw a gap that needed to be filled so that the three of us could keep Colorado Springs well-rounded.”

With more than 120 films, Indie Spirit aims simply to draw enthusiastic movie fans into theaters with the filmmaking community. And our city has responded well. For three years in a row, audiences have doubled in size. Now in its fourth year, organizers are aiming to double again.

“We had six or seven hundred audience members the first year, then it grew to 1,300, then to 3,000,” says festival director Jim Turner. “We’re aiming for 6,000 this year.”

What’s Organic About Organic? is a classic Indie Spirit choice, says Stevens. In fact, the film will show twice during the festival, “because it’s an important topic that’s covered in a pleasant way.”

And whether organizers would say so or not, the farmers in it have something in common with the film enthusiasts bringing it here: They keep gaining traction despite competition from big business.

“The festival is growing in so many directions it’s hard to remember everything,” Stevens says, adding, “There are more awards this year, more filmmakers coming this year and more milestones.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 28th, 2011
Media Contact – Grant Family Farms
Megan Andreozzi
Mobile: 719.433.6325
megan@grantfarms.com
www.grantfarms.com

Media Contact – “What’s Organic About Organic?”
Shelley Rogers
Mobile: 423.552.4066
rogersshelley@yahoo.com
www.whatsorganicmovie.com

Food documentary connects Colorado local organic farm with grassroots agricultural movement

Wellington, CO – Grant Family Farms teams up with New York-film maker, Shelley Rogers, to bring What’s Organic about Organic? to Colorado and Wyoming for a screening tour along the Front Range. What’s Organic about Organic?, the Our Planet award winner in the Los Angeles Going Green Film Festival, takes a unique look at organic farming and how the industry is being shaped as the demand grows.

Shelley Rogers believes this documentary film is “a call to action for a public that is increasingly concerned about their food choices.” The tour will also serve in the film’s Screen & Green campaign, which aims to partner with local non-profit organizations nation-wide and encourage the audience to take the next step beyond watching the film and become an engaged participant in the organic food movement.

Rogers and Andy Grant, owner/farmer of Grant Family Farms and featured in the film, will be holding post-screening discussions to provide a local perspective and context for the film’s message. Co-producer/character, Marty Mesh of Florida Organic Growers, will join some discussions as well. Grant has been farming in Northern Colorado his entire life and Grant Family Farms was the first farm to be Certified Organic by the State of Colorado in 1988. He now has a diverse operation of over 2,000 acres and is committed to developing a sustainable Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Grant predicts the farm will provide for over 6000 members with fresh, organic, local produce for the 2011 season.

What’s Organic About Organic? dives into the challenges that arise when a grassroots agricultural movement evolves into a booming international market and reveals what’s at stake in creating and maintaining meaningful standards for organic production. As more organic products crowd supermarket shelves, citizens are left to question what it really means to be ‘organic.’ “What’s Organic About Organic? takes the discussion beyond eco-label shopping,” said Rogers. “This film will show audiences that the decisions they make in the grocery store and the policies set by our government should not be just about personal preference, but they should embody a means of supporting an agricultural system that produces healthy food, develops market opportunities for regional food systems, and safeguards our environment for future generations.”

“We all can be part of the answer to the world’s problems,” said Florida Organic Growers’ Executive Director and co-producer of the film, Marty Mesh. “We want to see this film be a piece of that solution by helping people understand that the choices they make are important.”

The film’s Front Range screening tour will begin in Cheyenne on April 10th and continue through Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver and culminates its tour in the Colorado Springs, Indie Spirit Film Festival April 14th – 17th.

Screening Dates:
April 10th, Cheyenne, WY
April 11th, Denver, CO; FilmCenter/Colfax; The Denver Film Society
April 12th, Fort Collins, CO; The Lyric Cinema Café
April 13th, Boulder, CO; Nomad Theatre
April 14th, Denver, CO; Mercury Café; The ArgusFest
April 14th – 17th, Colorado Springs – CO; Indie Spirit Film Festival

Times: TBD

Grant Family Farms – History
Grant Family Farms is 2,200 acres located in Wellington, CO at the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The Grant family is deeply committed to growing healthy, delicious food and to being responsible stewards of the land and to the people that work on the farm. Starting in a very small way, Lewis Grant, then a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, and his young son Andy Grant began growing vegetables in the 1960s. In 1974, Andy committed himself to transforming the farm from conventional growing to organic growing practices. His commitment was revolutionary at the time.

Grant Family Farms was the first farm to be Certified Organic by the State of Colorado in 1988. Andy and Lewis Grant have served on the Boards of Organic Farming Research Foundation, Organic Trade Association and the Organic Materials Review Institute.
The Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program at Grant Family Farms was started in 2007 and has grown rapidly over the past four years. The CSA model was originally introduced by Robyn Van En and now over 1,300 farms run a CSA program in the United States. The CSA provides a direct link and responsible relationship between people and the food they eat, the land upon which it grows and those who grow it. Based on a bi-annual commitment to one another, community members provide a pre-season payment to purchase a “share” of the season’s harvest. The member then receives a weekly box of fresh organic vegetables, fruit and other “shares” that they have purchased. Each member receives a weekly neighborhood delivery throughout the 26-week harvest cycle from mid-June through mid-December. Winter shares run from December to June in limited areas.

The CSA program serves members along the Front Range from Colorado Springs and Denver up to Boulder, Fort Collins and Wellington through to Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyoming. In addition to the Front Range, deliveries are also provided to the Mountain regions with communities along the I-70 corridor, along Highway 6 and Highway 82.

Andy Grant – Bio
Andy Grant, has been farming in Northern Colorado his entire life, he took over the farm operations from his father in 1974. Grant Family Farms was the first to be certified organic by the State of Colorado in 1988. In his early twenties, Andy sold vegetables out of his truck and at a small roadside stand in Fort Collins and eventually occupied a small store that offered a full butcher service, gourmet cheeses and of course, his organic produce. The store was ahead of its time and when it was the victim of a nearby fire, he was forced to close shop.

After this setback, Andy needed to find a new market for his produce and grocery stores were the only ones buying. He now has a diverse operation of over 2,000 acres and is committed to developing a sustainable Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Andy has been a constant activist for the survival of local, independent farms and his personal goal for the farm is to keep all of his produce in the states of Colorado & Wyoming whether in grocery stores, small markets, restaurants or directly to the consumer through the CSA. Andy served on the board of the Organic Trade Association from 1999-2005.