In Search of Balance

An exploration of a new paradigm of health, science, and medicine, based on the interconnections between us and nature.

Trois oiseaux bleus

Ferial has lived in La Dauphine, an old Provençal countryside located on the foothills of the Alps, with Philippe and their three sons for over 20 years. Daughter of a German woman and a Palestinian man, born in Jordan, Ferial sees in this place where she lives today the realization of a strange dream she had when she was still living in Jordan with her parents many years ago. In this dream, Ferial found herself isolated on a small island lost in the middle of the ocean. On this island, there was a blue tree on which three blue birds were perched. She never forgot this dream.

天竜区奥領家大沢　別所製茶工場

A documentary directed by Hori Teiichi who was a production assistant on the 1994 documentary Otentousama ga Hoshii and has worked in a wide variety of genres from pink films to ordinary theatrical releases. The lifestyle and scenery of Osawa, a village situated 740 meters up on the mountainous slopes of Hamamatsu city's northern region in Shizuoka Prefecture, are the focus of this first installment to the "Tenryu-ku" series. It straightforwardly captures the tea harvest in late May and the tea processing conducted in a factory while showcasing mist shrouded tea fields drummed by rain as well as the beauty of the glistening green of the tea leaf shoots.

The Story of Doctor Carver

The story of Dr. George Washington Carver (1864-1943), black educator and horticulturist. He is perhaps most well known for developing over 140 products from all parts of the peanut plant, including the shells and husks. He also developed products based on sweet potatoes and soybeans, and developed a cotton hybrid that was named after him.

Holstein

A portrait of a small Ontario town, this film introduces its audience to the people of Holstein by filming them in the old-fashioned general store, the blacksmith's shop and the town granary. Old-time residents reminisce, while old-fashioned sleighs travel down the main road bordered by beautiful old frame houses.

Bikes for Africa

Bikes for Africa is an entertaining, insightful and moving documentary following the life adventures of Hap Cameron and Mandy Todd, and their attempt to help implement a self sustainable bike workshop in rural Namibia with a container load secondhand donated bikes from Melbourne. The film investigates how a bicycle can fundamentally change the lives of rural Africans, and brings to focus the great works of two-wheeled charities Bicycles for Humanity and the Bicycling Empowerment Network Namibia.

Der lange Weg ans Licht

Legacy

Is there a mental health crisis in agriculture in Colorado? Farming and ranching has become increasingly difficult over the years. An industry that is typically viewed as romantic, hardworking, and "salt-of-the earth" is actually a job full of tremendous stress outside of anyone's control. Combine that with the enormous generational pressure to continue the family farm, and you have a large group of people that are suffering silently. How do we take care of those that are taking care of us?

El campo para el hombre

"El campo para el hombre" was a politically militant documentary about the small holdings of land in the north of Spain and the large estates in the south of the country. This film portrays the exploitation and misery of the Spanish peasants, but also their class-consciousness and their will to fight for their rights and freedom. The film was shot in the late years of Franco's dictatorship, so it was made in secrecy (the directors were connected to the Spanish Communist Party).

Canada Vignettes: The Move

In this short documentary from the Canada Vignettes series, a Saskatchewan grain elevator is moved across the snow-covered prairie to a new home after nearly a half-century of use. The film follows the lifting and transporting of the 9-storey, 200-ton structure, and examines the feelings of the people as they witness the final passing of their town's one and only grain elevator.

Sauacker

SauAcker depicts the obstacles faced by Philipp, a young farmer determined to modernize his father's old-fashioned farm. His motto is "I'll do it my way". Philipp is fully committed and is even risking his relationship to attain his goals. The documentary paints a funny and charming picture of the two wayward heroes and presents an entertaining angle on the realities of contemporary society.

Alexis Tremblay: Habitant

This short documentary illustrates rural French Canadian life in the early 1940s. The film follows Alexis Tremblay and his family through the busy autumn days as they bring in the harvest and help with bread baking and soap making. Winter sees the children revelling in outdoor sports while the women are busy with their weaving, and, with the coming of spring young and old alike repair to the fields once more to plough the earth in preparation for another season of varied crops. One of the first NFB films to be produced, directed, written and shot by women.

Umudun Kızları

In Turkey far too many women are still unable to read and write, and all they see in their life span is being forced into early marriage and relegation to the home, where they look after extended families and more children than they can feed. The girls are portrayed in their homes, together with the strongest supporters of their emancipation through education: their mothers. Girls of Hope portrays five girls who struggle for their education and, despite all the difficulties, try to hold on to their hope for a better future.

Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds

One of the world's most precious resources is at risk. This film will help others learn what is at stake and what can be done to protect the source of nearly all our food: SEEDS. While the price of gold and oil skyrockets the fate of our most priceless commodity is ignored. Seeds provide the basis for everything from fabric, to food to fuels. They are as essential to life as the air we breathe or water we drink... but given far less attention. Over the past one hundred years, seeds have steadily shifted from being common heritage to sovereign property. This film tells the story of seeds by following the challenges and triumphs of some of their most tireless stewards and advocates.

Кто важнее — что нужнее

This film about agricultural advances in the USSR was meant to serve as a teaching aid. Featuring documentary footage and animation.

Les fils de la terre

Mary Remembering

A short animated documentary featuring archival recordings of the filmmaker's Volga-German Great-Great-Grandmother, Mary Frank Lind, in which she recalls key memories of childhood—her father's windmill, warm rains, wolf sightings, bone trading, and her passion for carpentry, which broke gender norms but was supported by her father.

Le fantôme de Mirabel

The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism

Taking its lead from French artists like Renoir and Monet, the American impressionist movement followed its own path which over a forty-year period reveals as much about America as a nation as it does about its art as a creative power-house. It’s a story closely tied to a love of gardens and a desire to preserve nature in a rapidly urbanizing nation. Travelling to studios, gardens and iconic locations throughout the United States, UK and France, this mesmerising film is a feast for the eyes. The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism features the sell-out exhibition The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920 that began at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and ended at the Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Alice Waters, Edible Schoolyard: San Francisco Foundation Community Leadership Awards 2006

Alice Waters, winner of the San Francisco Foundation 2006 Community Leadership Awards (The John R. May Award) - for transforming our relationship with food. Through her promotion of sustainable agriculture and the slow food movement, she fights obesity and fosters a clearer understanding of how the natural world sustains us. Alice and the Chez Panisse Foundation's Edible Schoolyard educates public school children on the importance of growing and cooking fresh, nutritional food.