“Start caring for the soil. I think the whole world will change.” So says the owner of a community-minded business in Egypt. His farm grows organic food, herbs, and spices. He also grows people by providing schooling for hundreds of children. A substantial percentage of this human potential is poor, orphaned kids.
This father and his son have been building their “Sekem Vision” for 30 years. That’s the name of Deborah Koons Garcia’s film. “Sekem” means vitality. They run a big little business in a modern ancient place. They offer a fairly modest yet inspiring example (so what if it’s self-promotional) in a world that needs to mount inspiring practical examples.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is showing two films by Garcia. “Portrait of a Winemaker” is a world apart from “Sekem Vision.” It’s one of the grand opportunities of movie going that you can see films that are much the same but present through an entirely different style and story.
“Portrait of a Winemaker” also touts a story about successful organic farming. Set in a yuppie region in Northern California, this farmer loves the bountiful message in respected soil. His decades of devotion yield grapes that suck flavor from soil rich in nutrients, not fed from dead chemicals. His grapes drink water that partners naturally with a dry summer, not spoiled by factory drip systems. His vines share the land with flowers and other plants that get chased from modern monoculture.
These two Garcia films are fairly matter of fact reports. She packages them in right-sized doses of about 15 minutes each. Such are the visions of practical vitality we need to be shown. Keep ‘em comin’. Eventually, it will catch on.