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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 Premiering the feature film The Real Dirt on Farmer John on Wednesday, February 15 at 7PM at the Uptown Theatre (612 8 Ave SW). This event will also showcase local organic farmer Kris Vesters of Blue Mountain Bio-dynamic Farms. $10, 100% Calgary Dollars accepted. Tickets available at the Arusha Centre, Sunnyside Market and at the door. Action Films screenings are the third Wednesday of every month. The Real Dirt on Farmer John is a documentary about John Peterson, a farmer, artist, and revolutionary innovative thinker cast in rural Illinois. Filmmaker Taggart Siegel has documented John's struggle to redefine his family farm for over twenty years, witnessing the colorful drama of John's life. Photographs and home movies spanning 70 years juxtapose with dynamic recent footage. With the death of his father during the 60s, John turns his traditional family farm into an experiment of art and agriculture, making it a haven for hippies, radicals and artists. The Real Dirt on Farmer John charts the end of this idealistic era as the farm debt crisis of the 80s brings about the tragic collapse of the farm. As the intricate weave of rural America unravels, vicious local rumors turn John into a scapegoat, condemning him as a Satan-worshipping drug-dealer. Threatened with murder, his home burned to the ground, John forsakes his farm and wanders the ancient lands of Central America. Mysteriously, his quest leads him back to his hostile homeland. Defying all odds, he gradually transforms his land into a revolutionary farming community. At the film's close, the Peterson family farm is one of the largest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the United States. Out of the ruins of single-crop agriculture, John creates Angelic Organics, an extended farm village where people and art can thrive alongside agriculture.
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. -- Rhonda

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Arusha Action Film Series #4 - The Real Dirt on Farmer John

Premiering the feature film The Real Dirt on Farmer John on Wednesday, February 15 at 7PM at the Uptown Theatre (612 8 Ave SW). This event will also showcase local organic farmer Kris Vesters of Blue Mountain Bio-dynamic Farms. $10, 100% Calgary Dollars accepted. Tickets available at the Arusha Centre, Sunnyside Market and at the door. Action Films screenings are the third Wednesday of every month.

The Real Dirt on Farmer John is a documentary about John Peterson, a farmer, artist, and revolutionary innovative thinker cast in rural Illinois. Filmmaker Taggart Siegel has documented John's struggle to redefine his family farm for over twenty years, witnessing the colorful drama of John's life. Photographs and home movies spanning 70 years juxtapose with dynamic recent footage.

With the death of his father during the 60s, John turns his traditional family farm into an experiment of art and agriculture, making it a haven for hippies, radicals and artists. The Real Dirt on Farmer John charts the end of this idealistic era as the farm debt crisis of the 80s brings about the tragic collapse of the farm. As the intricate weave of rural America unravels, vicious local rumors turn John into a scapegoat, condemning him as a Satan-worshipping drug-dealer. Threatened with murder, his home burned to the ground, John forsakes his farm and wanders the ancient lands of Central America. Mysteriously, his quest leads him back to his hostile homeland. Defying all odds, he gradually transforms his land into a revolutionary farming community. At the film's close, the Peterson family farm is one of the largest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the United States. Out of the ruins of single-crop agriculture, John creates Angelic Organics, an extended farm village where people and art can thrive alongside agriculture.

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.

-- Rhonda

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