Environmental Film Focus Series – Farming While Black – Nov 15th

7th Annual Environmental Film Focus Series.

FARMING WHILE BLACK directed by Mark Decena, will feature a Q&A immediately following the screening.  

Leah Penniman, co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, reflects on the plight of Black farmers in the United States. From the height of Black-owned farms at 14% in 1910 to less than 2% today, Leah, and other compatriots help propel a rising generation of Black farmers finding strength in the deep historical knowledge of African agrarianism — and its potential to save the planet.

Farming While Black examines the historical plight of Black farmers in the United States and the rising generation of Black farmers reclaiming their rightful ownership to land and reconnecting with their ancestral roots.

As the co-founder of Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York, Leah Penniman finds strength in the deep historical knowledge of African agrarianism – agricultural practices that can heal people and the planet. Influenced and inspired by Karen Washington, a pioneer in urban community gardens in New York City, and fellow farmer and organizer Blain Snipstal, Leah galvanizes around farming as the basis of revolutionary justice.

In 1910, Black farmers owned 14 percent of all American farmland. Over the intervening decades, that number fell below two percent, the result of racism, discrimination, and dispossession. The film chronicles Penniman and two other Black farmers’ efforts to reclaim their agricultural heritage. Collectively, their work has a major impact, as each is a leader in sustainable agriculture and food justice movements.

Tickets are $15, General Admission. Free Admission for REEL Friends of BIFF.

BIFF Environmental Film Focus

BIFF has a long history of presenting high-quality environmental documentaries. With the impacts of the climate crisis starting to be acutely felt in the Berkshires, artistic director Kelley Vickey and program consultant Lillian began to explore the possibility of making the Environmental Film Focus a permanent ongoing feature within BIFF’s year-round programming.

The Environmental Film Focus allows people to come together in the community and engage with environmentally-based stories, strategies, and actions. Our objective? To build a more deeply resourced, connected, and resilient community capable of responding to the many dimensions of the deepening environmental emergency with creativity and competence.

Thanks to the Berkshire-based Roaring Brook Family Foundation for its support of the Environmental Film Focus Series.