California’s farmland is rapidly disappearing, especially in the East Bay. On Earth Day 2012 hundreds of urban farmers decided to fight against the planned urbanization of the Gill Tract, a former agricultural research station owned by the University of California at Berkeley. They planted 16,000 seedlings, set up a tent camp, and dubbed it “Occupy 2.0.”
That morning Todd Darling, a California-based filmmaker, received a text alerting him about the occupation. He brought his camera to the Gill Tract on the first day and followed the occupation for the next several months. The final result was Occupy the Farm, a documentary chronicling the movement and highlighting broader tensions in today’s agricultural landscape.
The film is screening in New York for one week only starting on November 14. It will play several times daily at the Quad Cinema at 34 West 13th Street.
