Film Image
Abundant Land: Soil, Seeds, and Sovereignty
Producer: Armen Zohrabian
2017
Color
60 minutes
US
English

Abundant Land: Soil, Seeds, and Sovereignty

Abundant Land is a one-hour documentary about a Hawaiian community on Moloka’i opposing the biotech industry’s use of the island to test genetically engineered seeds. Agrochemical biotech corporations are depleting Moloka’i’s topsoil and freshwater while contributing to dust storms that spread pesticides into the ocean and surrounding communities. Abundant Land offers a historical look at the intrusion and political underpinnings of chemical-intensive farming in Hawaii while portraying the rich legacy of traditional Hawaiian land management and farming self-sufficiency.

The film’s narrative develops through a series of personal and community stories as the documentary follows several dedicated residents who seek transparency about the agrochemical testing being done on their island, and their ensuing efforts to heal and repair it. From initial grassroots efforts that give rise to organized actions, Moloka’i residents learn through leadership and study to use permaculture techniques to restore an integrated food system based on ancient Hawaiian farming practices.

Featuring interviews with Dr. Vandana Shiva, Walter Ritte, Malia Akutagawa, Mercy Ritte, Geoff Lawton, and Hector Valenzuela.
Filmmaker Natasha Florentino is available for speaking engagements.

Additional Credits:
Natasha Florentino, D.P.
Benjamin Moss, Editor
Ina Adele Ray, Editor and Story Consultant
Armen Zohrabian, Photographer
Pricing & Ordering
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Higher Education Institutions DSL 3-years License $300.00
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Higher Education Institutions Life Digital File License $600.00
K-12, Public Libraries & Select Groups DVD Sale $80.00
Non-Theatrical/Educational Blu-Ray Rental $300.00
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Reviews
“This film makes a crucial point for permaculture enthusiasts and anyone interested in re-designing food systems: without the empowered inclusion and leadership of Indigenous communities, we won’t achieve true or lasting change." - Antonio Roman-Alcala, Civil Eats Writer, Permaculture Instructor and Food Systems Organizer
Permaculture students can benefit from watching the film Abundant Land because it shows examples and detailed educational graphics of the inner workings of the ahupuaʻa; the sophisticated Hawaiian permaculture system.” - Loxley Clovis, Permaculture Instructor, Historian, Gardener and Documentarian
Awards

• Audience Choice Award, Eugene Environmental Film Festival
Screenings
• The Sweet Onion Cinemateque, Walla Walla, WA
• North West Permaculture Convergence, Vancouver, WA
• San Francisco Permaculture Guild
• Building Resilient Communities Convergence, Hopland
• American Indian Movement West Film Festival, San Francisco
• Student Environmental Resource Center, Berkeley
• Hawaii Premiere, Palace Theater, Hilo
• The Unitarian Universalist Church, Kelseyville, CA
• Hi-Desert Nature Museum, Yucca Valley, CA
• Six Nations Seedkeepers Gathering, Ohsweken, ON
• Global Partners in Sustainability, Cross Cultural Center, UC Irvine
• Food Cycles, Missoula, MT
• Healthy Community Film Festival, Watsonville Film Festival
• Indigenous Cultivation of Food & Resistnace, The New Parkway Theater, Berkeley
• Salt Spring Island Public Library, BC
• Eugene Environmental Film Festival
• Northwest Arctic Heritage Center, Kotzebue, Alaska
• Beyond Toxics, Bijou Art Cinema, Eugene, OR
• The International Resilicence Film Festival, Nevada City, CA
• Safe Agriculture and Safe Schools, Watsonville, CA
• Barcelona Planet Film Festival

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TWN acknowledges that in New York we are on the unceded territory of the Lenni Lenape, Canarsie, Shinecock, and Munsee peoples and challenges the harm that continues to be inflicted upon Indigenous and People of Color communities here and abroad, which is why we all need to be part of the struggle for rights, equality and justice.

TWN is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Color Congress, MOSAIC, New York Community Trust, Peace Development Fund, Humanities NY, Ford Foundation, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and individual donors.