March 1, 2018 – Carbondale, Colo. – HOW WE GROW won Best of the Fest Award at the World Premiere at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival (CEFF), February 22 – 24, 2018. With only five awards given out at this festival, the HOW WE GROW team is thrilled to have won the top honor.
“Our team is so incredibly honored to have received the Best of the Fest award at CEFF,” says Haley Thompson, CO-Director/Editor of HOW WE GROW. “Our stars – the farmers who work hard everyday to grow healthy food for our communities – shined so bright in the film. And their message was well received by an audience who’s ready to help make change in the world.”
“We are currently submitting our film to other major festivals around the country,” says Tomas Zuccareno, CO-Director of HOW WE GROW. “This is such a great honor and we are thrilled this important message about supporting young farmers, is starting to make an impact.”
HOW WE GROW is a feature length documentary film about ambitious young farmers building community around locally grown food in the Roaring Fork Valley of Western Colorado.
After two years of documenting how young farmers create resilient communities through regenerative agriculture, the HOW WE GROW team is thrilled to unveil this inspirational story to a community that cares deeply about being stewards of the land.
With the average age of a farmer in the U.S. being 58-years-old and approaching retirement, it is essential for the next generation of farmers to have community systems that support them. Support for young farmers ensures resilient communities for generations to come.
Healthy soil depends on many organisms working together. A healthy community needs the same. This film looks at the characters and systems of farming through the themes of education, legislation, community, food access and micro-finance – in order to tell the story of how these farmers are able to create resilient food systems.
Filmmakers, Tomas Zuccareno and Haley Thompson, intend for this story, all shot within 15-miles of Carbondale, Colo. to act as an inspiration for any town or city in the U.S. working to create resilient communities through regenerative agriculture and join the local food revolution.
“The local food movement is happening all over the country, but the Roaring Fork Valley is unique considering its rich history in agriculture and the growing number of beginning farmers determined to feed their community,” says Haley Thompson, CO-Director and Editor of HOW WE GROW. “You cannot help but feel hopeful when watching people intentionally care for the land they way that they do.”
STARS OF THE FILM INCLUDE:
Harper Kaufman and Christian La Bar – Two Roots Farm
Casey Piscura and Kirsten Keenan – Wild Mountain Seeds
Erin Cuseo and Jimmy Dula – Erin’s Acres
Woody Tasch – Founder and chairman of Slow Money Institute, a nonprofit that has facilitated the flow of more than $40 million to over 400 local, organic food enterprises.
Diane Mitsch Bush – Former Colorado State Representative, who’s legislation has played a huge role in helping these farmers get access to land.
REDFORD CENTER GRANT + KICKSTARTER
In November of 2016, HOW WE GROW was awarded a Redford Center Grant. In collaboration with the world’s top documentarians at the Redford Center in Sundance, Utah – the HOW WE GROW team created a short film, a vignette of the micro-finance chapter, from that grant. (Please see link at the top of the release).
This short debuted at 5Point Film Festival in April 2017 during their Changemaker Program.
In September 2017, the HOW WE GROW film asked their community to support a Kickstarter campaign to help finish the film. With $24,000 raised in one month, the team was able to finish their film for submission to festivals.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS:
Tomas was raised on a small family farm in New Hampshire and grew up with a deep respect for the land. He has a B.A. in Photojournalism from Prescott College where he was awarded for his powerful storytelling style. He has travelled the world – working for organizations like The National Geographic Society, Condé Nast and Forbes. He has been a part of the Marketing team at Aspen Snowmass for 23 years and a Staff Photographer for ESPN Images for 17 years. A desire to tell the story of the community that has been his family for more than two decades inspired him to make HOW WE GROW.
Haley was born and raised in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. With a BFA in Film and Writing from Emerson College, she has built a career around her love of storytelling through film. From documentaries and independent/foreign films to comedies of all genres, Haley has 12 years of experience as a trailer editor and producer in film advertising, having worked for some of the top agencies in LA and NYC. The energy around the local food movement of the Roaring Fork Valley inspired her to move back home and make HOW WE GROW.
FIND How We Grow ONLINE AND ON SOCIAL:
Website: https://howwegrowmovi