Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness

Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness is a documentary/art film released in June 2015 that takes audiences through farms and urban landscapes in Japan, South Korea, and the United States, interviewing leading practitioners in the natural farming movement.[1] The film began when an environmental artist (Patrick M. Lydon) and an environmental book editor (Suhee Kang), had a chance meeting in Seoul, South Korea, and began conducting short interviews together with leaders in the ecology and social justice movements.[2] Upon meeting Korean farmer Seong Hyun Choi however, the two were so impressed by his ecological mindset and way of working, that they set out to produce a feature film about the movement. Lydon and Kang ended up quitting their jobs, giving away most of their possessions, and becoming voluntarily homeless for four years in order to afford producing the film.[3][4][5]

Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness
Directed by
  • Patrick Lydon
  • Suhee Kang
Produced bySocieCity Films
Written by
  • Patrick Lydon
  • Suhee Kang
Starring
  • Yoshikazu Kawaguchi
  • Larry Korn
  • Kristyn Leach
  • Seong Hyun Choi
  • Ryosok Hong
  • Kazuaki Okitsu
  • Dennis Lee
Music by
  • WindSync
  • Bomnoonbyul
  • Joyful Island
  • Ippen
CinematographyPatrick Lydon
Distributed by
  • Gumroad (International)
  • Kaori Tsuji (Japan)
Release date
  • June 1, 2015 (2015-06-01) (Digital Release)
  • March 5, 2016 (2016-03-05) (Belleville Doc Fest)
Running time
  • 75 minutes (U.S. / International)
  • 64 minutes (Japan / Korea)
CountryUnited States, Japan, South Korea
LanguageEnglish, Korean, Japanese
Budget$30,000 USD

The film is split into three sections 1) Modern Life, 2) Foundations and Mindset of Natural Farming, and 3) Natural Farming in Practice and Life. According to the filmmakers, as they began to understand more about how natural farming itself was not rooted in methods, but in a way of thinking, they chose to explore the life philosophies and ways of thinking of natural farming practitioners in a more free-flowing and artistic way, rather than an instructive one; the result is an unconventional documentary that features slow paced musical interludes alongside interviews.

Production

Lydon and Kang spent what they call a "meager" life savings to make the film, along with the volunteer efforts of farmers, translators, writers, musicians they had met during their journey. Although the film was filmed, written, and edited entirely by the two directors, they readily admit that the process of making the film was co-operative effort, with more than 200 volunteers directly involved in the process in some way. The soundtrack was recorded with professional musicians from each of the three countries where filming took place, all of whom donated their time to contribute to the film project.[6] With the continued help of international volunteers, the film has been translated into five languages (Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Turkish), and three more (Portuguese, French, Vietnamese) are in progress.[7][8][9]

Tour
Artists and filmmakers, Patrick Lydon and Suhee Kang host a 'mandala' workshop after a screening of their film in Seoul, South Korea.

Frustrated by the lack of distribution and film festival options for low- and no-budget films, the filmmakers made the decision to manage distribution and touring in the same way they went about filming, through co-operative effort. With the help of volunteers, independent theater owners, and community organizers, they launched an extensive tour throughout Japan and South Korea from 2015-2016, eventually screening the film at over 130 venues.[10]

Rather than simply screening the film, the filmmakers decided to transition their existing media production organization SocieCity, into a vehicle for art and community engagement.[11] They made a point of hosting interactive events along with their screenings and in several cases, stayed in communities for up to three months at a time to build natural gardens and host a project they call REALtimeFOOD, a grown-to-order restaurant which connects the ideas from the film with real-world practices in farming, food, and crafts.[12][13] In most cases, these efforts were funded by grants from local philanthropic organizations and/or supported by the communities themselves.[14][15]

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews, with New York Times bestselling author and musician Alicia Bay Laurel calling it "both art and documentary," and others calling it "meditative, and mindful," and "an inspiring call to action."[16][17]

Interested in the unconventional way the film was being made and toured, multiple magazines and newspapers in Japan and Korea followed the directors during several parts of their journey, notably ESSEN, Bar and Dining, and Road magazines, and Shikoku Shinbun and Huffington Post newspapers.[18][19][20]

During the tour, the film was eventually picked up by festivals including Tassie Eco Film Festival and Belleville Doc Fest.[21]

The film was one of 25 chosen for the Global Environmental Justice Collection, an educational film collection supported by the International Documentary Association and curated by professors from Whittier, Yale, and NYU. The collection won the 2020 Buchanan Prize, which goes annually to "an outstanding pedagogical, instructional, or curriculum publication on Asia designed for K-12 and college."[22][23][24]

References
  1. Hong, Ryoseok; Kawaguchi, Yoshikazu; Korn, Larry (2000-01-01), Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness, retrieved 2017-04-18
  2. "Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness". Patrick M. Lydon. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
  3. "Final straw: food, earth, happiness - Kimchi&Basil". Kimchi&Basil. 2016-02-20. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  4. "A 'Root' Solution | Final Straw – Food | Earth | Happiness". www.finalstraw.org. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  5. "Lydon: Ghost Ship raises big questions about arts and culture". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  6. "Film Soundtrack Recording with WindSync | Final Straw – Food | Earth | Happiness". www.finalstraw.org. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
  7. "Filmmaker Spotlight: Patrick Lydon & Suhee King". Chelsea Breaks the News. 2016-03-24. Archived from the original on 2016-11-19. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  8. "Film Soundtrack Recording with WindSync | Final Straw – Food | Earth | Happiness". www.finalstraw.org. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  9. "The Documentary | Final Straw – Food | Earth | Happiness". www.finalstraw.org. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  10. "Tour Dates and Screenings | Final Straw – Food | Earth | Happiness". www.finalstraw.org. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  11. "Social Practice Artwork: A Restaurant and Garden Serving up Connections to Urban Nature". artseverywhere.ca. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  12. "Bar&Dining Magazine : 네이버 블로그". blog.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  13. "REAL time FOOD Project - Day One - World's Slowest Restaurant Opening". Setouchi Explorer. 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  14. "おおさか創造千島財団 » 2015年度". www.chishimatochi.info (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  15. "Final Straw". The CSPA. 2013-11-15. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  16. "Love nature, eat well – Mindful Pie". mindfulpie.com. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
  17. "Eco Farming". Clean Eating Magazine. Active Interest Media. July 1, 2015. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  18. "Connecting to Life with Natural Farming in Megijima" (PDF). Shikoku Shinbun. September 18, 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  19. ""모든 것이 연결되어 있다는 깨달음이 시작"". 허핑턴포스트 (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  20. "내일의 식문화를 일구는 사람들이 보내 온 새해 편지" (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  21. "Belleville International Documentary Festival - Official Program" (PDF). 1 February 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  22. "Final Straw Teacher's Guide". Global Environmental Justice Collection. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  23. "Global Environmental Justice Collection". Docuseek. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  24. "Buchanan Prize". Association for Asian Studies. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
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