video: New Film ‘Food Chains’ To Premiere in Portland

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Kirsten Nicolaisen, GoLocalPDX Digital Producer

Photo via the Food Chains Trailer from Screen Media Films

A new film, Food Chains, starring Eva Longoria and Eric Schlosser is set to premier at Portland's Clinton Street theater. Food Chains chronicles the plight of farmworkers who battle to defeat the $4 trillion global supermarket industry as they peacefully protest large grocery store chains with a small request: a penny more per pound of tomatoes.

The film focuses primarily on the work of a group of tomato pickers from southern Florida, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) together with Florida’s tomato farms have radically transformed agriculture there through the Fair Food Program. The Fair Food Program is a way to work with large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Whole Foods who are interested in improving working conditions and pay for these farmworkers. However, the CIW still faces opposition from large chains such as Publix, Kroger and Wendy's.

"The Fair Food Program is a unique partnership among farmworkers, the Florida tomato industry and participating retailers,” says Greg Asbed, co-Founder of the CIW. “It is the most progressive agricultural labor relations initiative in the United States today and represents a more equitable, more humane future for farmworkers. This is the revolution happening in America's fields. And it's a peaceful one."

Eva Longoria and Eric Schlosser are also executive producers of the film that is narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker and directed by Sanjay Rawal.

During the production of the movie, Eva Longoria and Sanjay Rawal were in communication with both Walmart Executives and the CIW and were able to capture the signing of the Fair Food Program by Walmart in the film. As part of the film’s outreach surrounding its release, Food Chains filmmakers are working to inspire other corporations and food institutions to join the Fair Food Program.

Food Chains premiers in Portland at 5 PM Friday, Nov. 28th at the Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St.