Readers of the Advocate are perhaps more likely than most to be familiar with names like Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland—names that, to many, stand for much of what is wrong with our modern agricultural practices. Whether it’s a concern with genetically modified foods—and the reported big-business bullying that goes hand in hand with their marketing to small farmers—or with our over-reliance on biofuel crops, activists local and national alike have found much to rally against as they call for a return to a more common-sense kind of farming.
The arguments that fuel the debate are beyond the scope of a humble film column, but for those whose fighting spirit is lit by the phrase “heirloom seeds,” this week we feature a film for you.
Ciclovida: Lifecycle is a feature-length independent documentary that follows a two-person posse of Brazilian subsistence farmers on a mission. As they traverse the South American continent—eschewing oil and biofuels like ethanol, they travel by bicycle—Inacio and Ivania collect and disseminate thousands of those heirloom seeds. Along the way they also connect with indigenous farming communities and like-minded people who illuminate some of the issues involved with big agribusiness: land battles, sweeping social and economic changes, and the ecological impact of waves of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and genetically modified “super seeds.”
At the same time, the lens also turns on Inacio and Ivania, portraying two earnest people living almost literally hand-to-mouth; the pair rely on their wits and the kindness of strangers to get them through their journey, which they make with almost no support crew. Ciclovida trails them from their home in Brazil through Paraguay and Argentina to Buenos Aires before they make their return trip by way of Uruguay—no small journey for anyone, let alone two people on sometimes rickety bikes.
As one might imagine, such a trek provides a lot of time for introspection, and one of the film’s more interesting touches is the look it provides at its protagonists’ sense of alienation: from family and friends left at home during a long and lonely trip, but in a wider sense from all of mainstream culture. To be a subsistence farmer and ecological evangelist, it appears, can mean a life of sometimes profound isolation.
Ciclovida: Lifecycle screens at 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 28 at the Academy of Music in Northampton. There will also be a Q&A and discussion after the film with filmmakers (and brothers) Matt and Loren Feinstein, as well as local agriculture concerns Grow Food Northampton and CISA. For more information or to watch the trailer, visit www.ciclovida.org/academy.
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Also this week: Lighter fare comes to the Academy as well this weekend when The Big Lebowski screens on Sunday at 2 p.m. The crown jewel in the Meet Me At The Movies series of Coen Brothers films is a steal at six bucks per ticket—most fans of The Dude (or El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing) would gladly pay that and a toe (with nail polish) for the chance to see Lebowski on the big screen again. And if none of the preceding made sense to you, take this opportunity to introduce yourself to the world of The Dude—a place where one soiled rug can lead to untold adventures. And why not? It really tied the room together.
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.
