Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Patrick Lydon
- Suhee Kang
- Patrick Lydon
- Suhee Kang
- Yoshikazu Kawaguchi
- Larry Korn
- Kristyn Leach
- Seong Hyun Choi
- Ryosok Hong
- Kazuaki Okitsu
- Dennis Lee
| Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness | |
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| Produced by | SocieCity Films |
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| Cinematography | Patrick Lydon |
| Music by |
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| Countries | United States, Japan, South Korea |
| Languages | English, Korean, Japanese |
| Budget | $30,000 USD |
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—inspired by the work of Masanobu Fukuoka, and his book The One Straw Revolution—came about 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] During an interview with Korean farmer Seong Hyun Choi, the two were so impressed by his ecological mindset and way of working that they set out to produce a feature film about the wider natural farming movement in Japan and Korea. 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]
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.[6]
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.[7] 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.[8][9][10]
