“It’s not about more food
it’s about power.”



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28 pages photos, synopsis, credits etc.

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Email: info@thewormisturning.com
Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E F I L M M A K E R S :

WHY DID YOU MAKE THE FILM?

When I realised the extent of pesticides used, and where they come from, I was shocked. I had assumed that if they are toxic, surely there would be some regulation in place. The lack of regulation was the second shock. These chemicals are highly toxic, even in very small amounts. Whole ecosystems are being destroyed from growing food this way. If people knew they would be shocked too.

WHAT WAS THE MOST SHOCKING THING YOU REALISED FROM MAKING THE FILM?
The very deep connection there is between modern agriculture and war.

WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF MAKING THE FILM
Taking on such a huge subject, food production, it being the biggest activity on the planet, and to connect the dots on global food issues, and showing why such a toxic, destructive way of producing food dominates the world.

WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO CONNECT THE DOTS?
There's a lot of corporate interests out there that want to keep things complex and separated, it's a way to confuse and compartmentalise so they can sell you their products. There's a lot of misinformation too. I wanted to clarify by connecting dots, as a way to understand what is going on, and be able to make informed choices of where your food comes from.

WHY IS ORGANIC MORE EXPENSIVE THAN CONVENTIONAL [CHEMICAL] FOOD?
Price is the real clincher for most people's food choice, ie whether to buy organic or not. If there is that choice in their supermarket since 96% of food sold in the US is grown using chemicals.
Government subsidizes chemical agriculture, by giving medium and large sized farmers a stipend. Then huge grain corporations purchase the crops for less than it cost the farmer to grow it. That's how the huge food companies can produce cheap food.
The question needs to be rephrased;
Why is conventional food cheap? and
Why should anybody have to eat food grown using toxic chemicals?


WHY IS THE FOCUS OF THE FILM ON INDIA AND USA?
The chemical agriculture that dominates the world comes from the USA, and it was exported to the world as the so called Green Revolution. When big corporate monoculture took over in America, farmers where pushed off the land. The same is happening in India today. There's still 600 million people on the land in India farming, and the plan is to push 500 million of them into cities. This is exactly the opposite of what is needed for food security. We need people on the land to feed more people better. In study after study from the UN it is clear, small ecological farms are in fact more productive than big monoculture farms.

WHY DID YOU FILM IN PUNJAB?
Punjab was the breadbasket of India before the Green Revolution was introduced in the 1960s. Filming there was a way to see what the consequences of this system are - for the people, the farmers, the economy, the environment, the health of everyone. As you'll see in the opening scene of the film the landscape is dead, it literally looks like a war zone.

WHY DID YOU MAKE A FILM ON AGRICULTURE?
Most people don't realise the significance of agriculture in their lives, not only regarding their own health, but the health of everything in the environment. Politically we're all losing control of the ability to feed ourselves, and being made more and more dependent on big multi-national corporations whose only concern is their bottom line and to get bigger in an economy of eternal growth. The real cost of this corporate behaviour is absolute destruction of all that we depend on to survive.
Agriculture has the greatest impact on the planet, so when those of us who can, choose where our food comes from, that choice goes a long way. It's very empowering


WHAT WAS THE MOST ENCOURAGING ASPECT OF MAKING THE FILM?
That there is a better way. Ecological farming is a win win for everyone, it produces more and better food, better for the environment, better for the farmers economy, keeping farmers on the land, better food security.
There are so many people out there that don't want to feed the big corporate beast, who are passionate about ecological ways of growing and eating food, and by doing so they are in fact siding with life.


WHY IS THE FILM CALLED THE WORM IS TURNING?
‘The smallest worm will turn being trodden on’ is an expression from a William Shakespeare play used to convey that even the meekest or most docile of creatures will retaliate or get revenge if pushed too far.
So that's the meaning, that corporations have pushed life to such an edge, that the real revolution, ecological farming, is starting to fight back by beginning to change everything, from the life in the soil to the life of the farmers.



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