Farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA), farm-to-table restaurants – more and more people today are interested in where their food comes from, how it is grown, and how it arrives to their plates.
Digital media students at Front Range Community College’s Westminster Campus are preparing a documentary about this trend. “Next-Door Nutrition” is in its post-production phase. It will debut at 7 p.m. May 20 at Bug Theater, 3654 Navajo St. Denver. Admission is free.
“Food has become a hot-button issue,” said Justin Wilson, lead editor on the project. “We are more cognizant of where our food comes from.”
Documentary follows farm-to-table movement.
“Next-Door Nutrition” follows the current purveyors of the farm-to-table movement to help educate on how to locally sustain a community with urban farms, local eateries, farmers markets, and education as it relates to being healthier, supporting your local economy, and eating less processed foods. The defining purpose of the documentary culminates in portraying how eating locally also brings a community together and a larger voice to those who want the healthiest food for themselves and their own.
Students have interviewed nutritionists, chefs, greenhouse operators, small-scale farmers and ranchers, and authors who have written books about this nutrition movement. The students starting points were at FRCC: Ray Daugherty, horticulture and landscape technologies faculty; Stephan Cochenour, urban farming instructor; Lisa Zucker, nutrition instructor; and Ayelet Zur-Nayberg, economics faculty.
All the work is under the watchful eye of Brandon Berman, digital media faculty and executive producer of Storage Room Productions, the student documentary group.
“I have a personal interest in this issue,” Berman said. “When I took students on a study trip to Africa, we got to see this issue full on. The universities were even growing their own food.”
Students perform every part of production.
Students are involved in every aspect of the project – music, animation, sound, color correction, scripting, storyboarding, researching, and interviewing.
Real-life experience for students.
Wilson, who is studying videography, has gained a wealth of experience as lead editor.
“I’ve learned how to look at a production from a large scope. I’ve had to communicate between departments. I’ve had to work with other departments heads to coordinate efforts.”
Wilson and Berman expect the documentary to run about 45 to 48 minutes.
“I think the film is geared to anyone that is interested in learning more about where our food comes from,” Berman said. “The film is intended to get people to think about the decisions they make regarding their health, their community, local economy, and the bigger picture of sustainability and that there are multiple ways we can get our food – whether store-bought, farmers market, restaurants, CSAs, or learning to grow some yourself.”
Storage Room Productions is no stranger to documentaries.
“Spectrum: Embracing Gender,” the 2016 production, which explored the way people view and embrace gender identities, is slotted for broadcast on Rocky Mountain PBS this summer.
Two documentaries focused on veterans. “Bridges: Transitioning to Civilian Life,” which examined veterans meeting the challenge of returning to college and dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, debuted in 2016. The documentary was accepted for the Alhambra Theatre Film Festival in Evansville, Ind.
The 2014 documentary, “Women Warriors: A Vision of Valor,” examined the evolving role of women in war and followed the stories of 10 woman veterans who served from World War II to Afghanistan. The documentary was accepted into the Library of Congress Veterans History Project.
