Farmer John Brings the Real Dirt to the Ojai Playhouse
From a press release submitted by Food for Thought Ojai:
No, it’s not about the sausage company.
The Real Dirt on Farmer John is a movie about Illinois farmer John Petersen and his decades-long struggle to wrest right livelihood from his family’s farm. Winner of over 30 festival awards, this film has it all – life, death, sex, terrorism, art, failure, success. Helped along by the fact that his mom started taking 16 mm movies of the family when John was a child, and by the fact that John is an artist as well as a bred-in-the-bones farmer, this movie reaches far beyond any normal expectations of a documentary about a mid-western farmer.
Presented by Food for Thought Ojai, the Ojai Film Society, and Slow Food Ojai/Ventura. The Real Dirt on Farmer John will show Saturday and Sunday, June 30-July 1, at 4:30 pm at the Ojai Playhouse in downtown Ojai. Tickets are $8 for adults, and $5 for seniors and students at the door.
Farmer John Petersen will be at BOTH screenings for Q & A.
Immediately following the SUNDAY screening, there will be a fixed price dinner reception for Farmer John ($25 per person for three course tasting menu featuring locally grown produce and poultry) at ironpan restaurant located 219 East Matilija Street in Ojai. Please call ironpan for reservations 805-646-3500 by Friday June 29.
View the film’s trailer at http://www.farmerjohnmovie.com/Home.html.
For further information, please call Marty Fujita at 640-5044.
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Comments (5)
I highly recommend this movie. I saw a few years ago at the Green Business Conference in San Francisco. It's a remarkable success story with many twists and turns. Afterward JOhn PEterson spoke, along with the film maker. Touching, moving story.
Comment #1 Posted by: Raymond | June 13, 2007 09:35 PM
Lisa, thanks for letting us know about this! i intend to be at one of the screenings.
the film screens both saturday and sunday, but is the dinner reception only on sunday, when John is there?
i'd also like to know more about Food for Thought Ojai...
Comment #2 Posted by: evan | June 14, 2007 07:01 AM
From the Food For Thought Web site (linked above): The Ojai Healthy Schools Program
is a grassroots, community-driven effort, working in partnership
with the Ojai Unified School District (OUSD),
to bring locally grown fruits and vegetables,
nutrition education, and agricultural literacy
to the children of the Ojai Unified School District.
Food For Thought is a registered 501(c)3
nonprofit, charitable organization.
Our program is supported by grants and donations.
Healthy minds, bodies and environment
are the objectives that guide every aspect
of the Food For Thought program.
And, yes, evan, the dinner reception is only on Sunday, when John is there following his earlier Q&A at the screening. He will not be at the Saturday screening.
Comment #3 Posted by: Lisa Snider | June 14, 2007 07:56 AM
Great news!! Marti Fujita just confirmed that Farmer John Peterson WILL be at the Saturday screening. Please call her at 640-5044 for more information.
Comment #4 Posted by: Kate | June 26, 2007 12:04 PM
Saw "The Real Dirt" today. Imagine -- a farmer in the midwest, sitting on his tractor, plowing the earth while wearing his best feather boa and glitter or perhaps dancing in a bee costume?...
Great movie, and, as John Peterson said, carries a 'message of hope' but it also shows the depth of life and farming and finding oneself. We, (my 2 friends and me), laughed uproariously, cried and really 'got it'.
Shows a lot about the process of farming and how it's changed. Speaks to reclaiming land and allowing for the changes life doles out. Also really showed a true eccentric who found his way and taught tolerance to a community by being himself.
It's the perfect movie for Ojai -- it feels like it belongs here, in this community. I hope many of you get to see it. He will also speak again after the movie tomorrow afternoon and that is also such a treat. Thankful to FFT for bringing it. Thanks Jim and Marty!!
Comment #5 Posted by: kate | June 30, 2007 08:49 PM