The long night of farmer’s films
The conclusion of this year's eco-week was another highlight. The artist Antje Schiffers has been running a deal with farmers for many years. She paints a picture of their farm and the farmers produce a video of their farm and work from their own perspective. Antje Schiffers first introduced herself, her project and some of the farms she painted. This was followed by a cinematic journey through Europe, an organic farm in England run by two siblings, which was saved by a cooperative and became a beacon for other projects. A melon farmer family from Hungary struggling with local traders, middlemen and European corporations, always at the rim of losing out and giving up. The journey continued to Brandenburg to a newly established smallholder farm, where horses are ploughing again, and further on to an agricultural cooperative, which had emerged from a former colchose. In the Basque Country, two brothers and their daughters run a sheep and goat farm, which ensures its economic survival mainly through the farm's own cheese production. Impressive pictures and stories, which caused a lot of enthusiasm but also a lot of thoughtfulness among our viewers. Thus it became a really long night of the farmer film, the longest so far, as Antje Schiffers enthusiastically stated.
Those who did not have the opportunity to watch the films during the Eco-week can do so on the Internet. On the website www.vimeo.com you can search for "Schiffers Sprenger" and find a whole range of the films that Antje Schiffers and her partner Thomas Sprenger have acquired in exchange for the general public in Europe for a good 20 years. Here too, the participants unanimously expressed the wish to take this film journey to the Pellwormer cinema again next year.