Sunday (4/18) filmmaker Steve Alves was a guest speaker at the Historic Unitarian Meetinghouse's "Food, Glorious Food!" event and art exhibtion in Bernardston, Massachusetts.

Themed towards local food production and distribution systems, after a lecture on the multiple benefits of sprouts (even lowering your chances of prostate cancer!), Steve's band, The Falltown String Band, entertained the crowd while they munched on local burritos supplied by the People's Pint.

After everyone finished their lunch, they headed upstairs to watch excerpts from Steve's work-in-progress documentary, Food For Change. Interspersed with short introductions and informative lectures, the film received very positive remarks, and everybody in attendance was impressed at the scope and power of the narrative. Steve spoke eloquently and efficiently, discussing how the essential nature of his project is present, but the film still needs to be fully realized. "Right now the goal is to raise the funds needed to complete the film. Once that's done, we can get back to the task of finishing the film and getting it out to the groups and organizations that will want to use it."

The film presentation and lecture ran for an hour and thirty minutes, and ended on a positive note when an audience member made a cash contribution to the project. In attendance was Loren Saito, from the Marketing Team of the River Valley Market in Northampton, Massachusetts, who brought her two sons. She told Steve later that her older boy, age 10, was particularly enthralled by the historical sections of the film.

We look forward to future events like this that bring energy and creativity to communities across the country!