Conferences are a strange life experience. Places full with like-minded people who all want to learn, to commune together, to contribute. There’s often a feeling of deep connection in a very short amount of time because so many of the precursors to genuine understanding have been preselected.
Last September made the trek out to Cincinnati, to document the Rogue Food Conference. The idea was to get some footage for our upcoming documentary The Right to Food, specifically for the scenes with Joel Salatin and John Moody who are the co-founders of the unusual event.
Had just finished filming with an inventor named Sky in Missouri (more on him to come) and decided to head out a day or so early to get acclimated. Rented an apartment in a delightful neighborhood- Kings Island. It was towards the end of a month-long road trip, and so I splurged and got a two floor apartment with a full kitchen that was okay with Spruce. Am always more prone to splurge at the end of a trip than the beginning.
The neighborhood was unexpectedly quiet, and each day Spruce and I walked the perimeter of the sports-oriented community park immediately out the front door.
The conference was hosted at Aberlin Springs, a high-dollar planned community with a fully functioning farm interwoven into the fabric of the space where people live. Think of a typical apartment complex where all the houses look the same except here the houses are unique and there are big shared buildings and a fully-functioning fully-staffed farm on the campus of the subdivision. As I drove in, a couple of very excited tweens drove up in golf carts and gave me a ride from the car to the conference, a courtesy that was especially appreciated given the gear being carried. I asked the kids if they lived there, and they said yes. They clearly loved it. Lots of kids their age to hang out with, and of course, they got to drive these golf carts.
After getting dropped off, said hi to John and setup the tripod for the first day of shooting. Because this footage would be for the larger feature film it meant there was a lot of freedom. Didn’t have to film every second, just get really good shots of people listening and John talking. With an easy assignment, the mind began to wonder. Who are these people who want to attend a conference about how to start farms? Who are these people who are weird enough to care as much about food freedom as I do? As I framed these people’s faces in the viewfinder, the decision was made to complexify the assignment. I’d interview these people and learn more about their stories.
This week’s rough assembly from our upcoming film The Right to Food is of one of the first people who walked into John’s talk. Daniel. It felt good to not just shine a light on the ‘experts’ but on the students too.
Enjoy.
