Asparagus!: full length DVD release!
Titled Asparagus! Stalking the American Life, the filmmakers are happy to announce that a percentage of each sale goes directly back to the U.S. Asparagus Growers and to support local community farm programs!
Read below for the official press release.
AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY FILM ABOUT MICHIGAN'S "ASPARAGUS CAPITAL OF THE NATION" RELEASED ON DVD
Asparagus! Stalking the American Life - the multiple award-winning documentary film about the "Asparagus Capital of the Nation" - is scheduled for release on DVD May 1, 2008. The DVD includes the 53-minute broadcast cut of the film as well as a number of Special Features including "Extra Scenes," "Asparagus Tips," and a "Recipe File." The DVD will be available at www.asparagusthemovie.com, farmer's markets and at special screening events beginning May 1, 2008. It will retail for $24.99, with a portion of sales going directly to support Michigan family farms and asparagus growers.
The film tells the story of Oceana County, Michigan, whose spear-struck residents built their identity and economic survival on asparagus, but now find themselves taking on the U.S. War on Drugs, Free Trade, and the Fast Food Nation, all to save their beloved "roots". Asparagus! Stalking the American Life journeys to the heart of Asparagus Country to discover why one little vegetable matters so much. New York Magazine called the film "Oddly Brilliant," and the Kansas City Star heralded the film "A Charmer!"
Asparagus! Stalking the American Life had its World Premiere in 2006 at the acclaimed Full Frame Documentary Film Festival - the largest documentary film festival in the U.S. - and toured the festival circuit throughout 2006-2007. It garnered Best Documentary awards at the Rural Route Film Festival in New York and East Lansing Film Festival, as well as Audience Awards at the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival and Waterfront Film Festival. The film also won the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Good Food Film Award at the Media That Matters Film Festival and a special finishing funds grant from P.O.V./American Documentary through New York's Museum of Television and Radio (recently renamed as The Paley Center).
The DVD is being launched in tandem with a "GrassRoots Film Screening Series" in communities and schools across the country. Beginning with a special screening sponsored by The Food Literacy Project at Harvard University on April 29, and including other school, community and special screenings across the nation, including this year's National Asparagus Festival in Oceana County, MI where the project was filmed.
The documentary is a 4-year independent film project of Michigan native, director Kirsten Kelly, and her film partner Anne de Mare from New York, who worked extensively with Michigan arts, humanities and agricultural organizations from the film's inception to its completion. Kirsten was raised on an asparagus farm in Oceana County and was a proud member of the pre-teen asparagus dance troupe "The Oceana Stalkers."
FILM SYNOPSIS:
Thirty years ago, Oceana County, Michigan proclaimed itself the Asparagus Capital of the Nation! Hailed as "Green Gold", asparagus was exactly what this poor rural community needed - a spring cash crop at the end of the long cold winter. Asparagus quickly became Oceana's biggest claim to fame, with everyone from the local clown band to the dance teacher inspired by the "Super Stalk." Then, in a twist of fate, the U.S War on Drugs ushered in a free trade agreement that threatens to take it all away. Virtually overnight, Oceana's asparagus farmers find themselves smack-dab in the middle of international drug policy and the turbulent global economy. They call an Emergency Asparagus Summit, pull up their bootstraps, and jump head-on into the fray. While Mrs. Asparagus advocates at Oceana's National Asparagus Festival, the farmers leave their fields and head into a world of high-powered marketing think-tanks and Asparagus CheezePak Volcanoes-- determined to save their most prized crop.
This is the story of one rural American community scrambling to keep its proud identity and source of survival against impossible odds. Asparagus! Stalking the American Life journeys to the heart of asparagus country to discover why one little vegetable matters so much.
Buy the DVD now through PayPal, or watch the trailer Asparagus! (A Stalk-umentary) through the Media That Matters FOCUS: Good Food site.
Published on May 10, 2008
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