Bios

Character Bios

Joel Salatin

Joel Salatin writes in his website that he is “in the redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture.” And if you visited his farm in Swoope, Virginia, you’d know he means it & lives it! He produces beef, chicken, eggs, turkey, rabbits, and forestry product. Yet, Joel calls himself a grass-farmer, for it is the grass that transforms the sun into energy that his animals can then feed on. By closely observing nature, Joel created a rotational grazing system that not only allows the land to heal but also allows the animals to behave the way the were meant to – as in expressing their “chicken-ness” or “pig-ness”, as Joel would say.

www.polyfacefarms.com

Will Allen

The son of southern sharecroppers, Will Allen always believed that everyone should have access to fresh, healthy food. Today, he lives his dream growing amazing products on a 3-acre lot in the middle of urban Milwaukee. By converting a million pounds of waste into energy via composting, Will also leads the way in visualizing zero-waste cities.

6ft 7″ former professional basketball player Will Allen is now one of the most influential leaders of the food security & urban farming movement. His farm and not-for-profit, Growing Power, have trained and inspired people in every corner of the US to start growing food sustainably. This man and his organization go beyond growing food. They provide a platform for people to share knowledge and form relationships in order to develop alternatives to the industrial food system.

www.growingpower.org

Russ Kremer

15 years ago, Russ Kremer ran an industrial hog confinement operation in Frankenstein, Missouri. Following standard practices, he fed his pigs daily doses of antibiotic for growth efficiency and to ward off illnesses. Then, one day Russ was gored by one of his hogs and nearly died from an antibiotic-resistant infection. He realized the danger posed by the overuse of antibiotics, and immediately transformed his farm. Today his hogs are antibiotic-free. Russ is the founder of the Ozark Mountain Pork Coop and the president of the Missouri Farmers Union.

www.missourifarmersunion.org/coop/ffcenter/ompc.htm

David Ball

With the rise of Wal-Mart and other big chains, David Ball saw his family-run supermarket dying, along with a once-thriving local farm community. So he reinvented his business, partnering with area farmers to sell locally-grown food and specialty food products at an affordable price. His plan has brought the local economy back to life.

www.henhouse.com/cnt/BFBL_Homepage.html

Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan is the author, most recently, of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.” His previous book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals”, was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. It also won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He is also the author of “The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World”, “A Place of My Own”, and “Second Nature”. A contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, Pollan is the recipient of numerous journalistic awards, including the James Beard Award for best magazine series in 2003 and the Reuters-I.U.C.N. 2000 Global Award for Environmental Journalism. His articles have been anthologized in Best American Science Writing, Best American Essays and the Norton Book of Nature Writing. Pollan served for many years as executive editor of Harper’s Magazine and is now the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley.

www.michaelpollan.com

Andrew Kimbrell

Andrew Kimbrell is a public interest attorney, activist and author. He has been involved in public interest legal activity in numerous areas of technology, human health and the environment. After working for eight years as the Policy Director at the Foundation for Economic Trends, Kimbrell established the International Center for Technology Assessment (CTA) in 1994 and the Center for Food Safety(CFS) in 1997. Kimbrell has written several books and given numerous public lectures on a variety of issues. He has been featured on radio and television programs across the country, including The Today Show, the CBS Morning Show, Crossfire, Headlines on Trial, and Good Morning America. He has lectured at dozens of universities throughout the country and has testified before congressional and regulatory hearings. In 1994, the Utne Reader named Kimbrell as one of the world’s leading 100 visionaries.

www.centerforfoodsafety.org

George Naylor

George Naylor, past president of the National Family Farm Coalition, farms near Churdan, Iowa. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. Soon after coming back to the family farm in 1976, Naylor was elected to the first Iowa Corn Promotion Board, and during the farm crisis of the 1980’s he was active in American Agriculture Movement, the Iowa Farm Unity Coalition and the North American Farm Alliance. From 1989 through 1991 he served on the Executive Committee of the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club. Naylor was a member of Governor Tom Vilsack’s Ag Task Force and Water Summit He has attended gatherings at various international trade talks in Cancun, Geneva, Miami, Sao Paolo, and Hong Kong. Naylor was a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against Monsanto and other biotech companies dealing with the negative economic impacts on family farmers by the introduction of genetically modified crops. He is prominently featured in Michael Pollan’s best selling book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

John Ikerd

John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri, Columbia.

John was raised on a small dairy farm in southwest Missouri and received his BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri. He worked in private industry for a time and spent thirty years in various professorial positions at North Carolina State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Georgia, and the University of Missouri before retiring in early 2000. Since retiring, he spends most of his time writing and speaking on issues related to sustainability with an emphasis on economics and agriculture. Ikerd is author of Sustainable Capitalism, A Return to Common Sense, Small Farms are Real Farms, and Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture.
More complete background information and selected writings are available at http://web.missouri.edu/~ikerdj/ .

Crew Bios

Ana Joanes (Producer/Director)

Ana was born in Portugal and grew up in Switzerland. Following a travel-abroad program exploring the impact of globalization on the environment and culture, Ana came to the U.S. to study. After a BA in political science from Barnard college, Ana graduated from Columbia Law School, where she was awarded as a Stone Scholar and Human Rights Fellow. Before dedicating herself to filmmaking, Ana founded Reel Youth, Inc., a video production program for youth coming out of detention, and other under-served youth. Her first documentary, Generation Meds, explored our fears and misgivings about mental illness and medication. FRESH, Ana’s second documentary, celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system.

Valery Lyman (Director of Photography)

Valery Lyman is a cinematographer and video journalist. Over the last 8 years Valery has worked on news, documentaries and TV shows for every major network in the US, including the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, ABC, NBC, and CNN, as well as many independent outfits. In addition to her DP work, Valery is a contributor to National Geographic’s Wild Chronicles and Yahoo’s Assignment Earth environmental series. She also produced and directed the film Always, a portrait of the American century through the lives and love story of an octogenarian couple in Idaho.

Mona Davis (Editor)

Mona Davis has edited numerous award-winning feature documentaries. Her credits include the critically acclaimed Love and Diane (premiered at the New York Film Festival), The Farm, Angola USA, (Grand Jury Prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival, Academy Award nominee, Emmy for Best Editing), A Perfect Candidate and Dream Deceivers (both nominated for Emmys), and the American versions of 7 Up and 14 Up. She was the consulting editor on the award winning 51 Birch Street and Girls Like Us. Her work has appeared in theaters, and on PBS, HBO, CBS, BBC, Arte, and Showtime.

David Majzlin (Composer)

David Majzlin’s film credits include Sunshine Cleaning (additional music), starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, and Alan Arkin, Stille, (Winner – Best Score – Avignon Film Festival), Being Reel, (Winner – Project Greenlight / Coca-Cola® Refreshing Filmmaker Competition), Herb and Dorothy, (Winner – Audience Award – Silverdocs and Hamptons Int’l Film Festival), Virgin Larry (Winner – Coen Brothers Audience Award – Brooklyn International Film Festival), Youth Knows No Pain (HBO Films), and Rania Ajami’s Asylum Seekers (Shoreline Entertainment). His music has appeared in numerous television projects and promos including Ugly Betty, The Cleaner, CSI, The Ghost Whisperer, CNN, Greys Anatomy, The Tony Awards, Desperate Housewives, and 60 Minutes.

Lisa Madison (Distribution & Outreach Coordinator)

Lisa Madison was born and raised on a small vineyard in Northern New Mexico and grew up with red clay under her feet, valuing the land’s production of good, fresh food. Prior to moving to New York two years ago, Lisa worked at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in Washington, DC where she learned a great deal about how the green movement is impacting the future of architecture. She is about to complete her graduate degree through the New School Film Studies Graduate program and is passionate about documentaries and the change that great films can generate.

As the Distribution and Outreach Coordinator for FRESH, Lisa organizes screenings of FRESH around the world. She serves as a resource for FRESH supporters in their endeavors to educate communities about sustainable agriculture, helping them to use FRESH as an activist tool.

Lisa Amadeo (Events Coordinator)

Lisa Amadeo grew up in a small town in Connecticut, home to several family farms where fresh fruits and vegetables were plentiful. Lisa moved to New York to pursue a Masters degree in Media Studies & Film at The New School. During that time, Lisa worked for several non-profits examining the role of sustainability in education and as an adjunct professor teaching The History of Mass Media at Southern Connecticut State University. In all of her work, Lisa strives to promote socially responsible media for social change. As the Event Coordinator at FRESH Lisa distributes screening materials and licensing agreements while working closely with supporters to facilitate FRESH events around the country.

Jamie Yuenger (Theatrical Coordinator)

Jamie Yuenger loves to throw a good dinner party, go on an adventure, and record stories told by neighbors and strangers. She studied folklore and Scandinavia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, worked as a field organizer, directed a non-profit and waitressed all before she figuring out that she liked to document real-life best, through sound and visuals. Just before joining the FRESH team, Jamie worked as a documentary radio producer, broadcasting stories about a Maine moose hunt, illegal beekeeping in Brooklyn, a New Jersey blueberry farm, and Italian pastries.

As the Theatrical Coordinator for FRESH, Jamie works to organize events during our FRESH Weeks around the country. She serves as a point person for FRESH supporters who want to make the theatrical release in their city a huge success.