Terra Madre

“Terra Madre” is a global conference organised by the Slow Food movement. Every two years in Torino thousands of “food workers” come together; farmers, fishermen, cooks and scholars come from all over the world to exchange ideas, methods and projects for a “food production line” which could feed the planet without destroying it, at the same time defending identities and local products. From this kaleidoscopic starting point of voices and ideas Ermanno Olmi has created an intense poetic story, searching all round the globe for another way of living, which could tackle, without hypocrisy, the dilemma facing a world unable to interrupt a cycle of consumption that is leading to the destruction of the planet. Il film Torino 2006. World meeting of food group communities.
 
Someone arrived with beans in a little bag, someone else with rice and barley. Seeds grown in India, in China, in Mexico. Dark, light, smooth, rugged, like the hands and the faces of those who planted them, watered them, harvested them with traditional means and techniques thousands of years old. The numerous followers of Terra Madre march against the degeneration put in place by the food multinationals and the arrogance of greed. A multitude of different faces united through a sense of noble simplicity, convinced that we can consume in a different way and live in peace with our Mother Earth.
 
“Respect for the environment and the dignity of food, for a future of peace and harmony with nature: only the sensitivity of Ermanno Olmi could portray something as extraordinary as Terra Madre”
Carlo Petrini

The book
Ortolani di civiltà. Critical contributions and in-depth analysis by Carlo Petrini, Giuseppe Bertolucci, Paolo Rumiz and Vandana Shiva.

Bonus DVD
La creanza: Ermanno Olmi and Carlo Petrini talk about the birth of the film.
Nine Seeds: a journey in Vandana Shiva's India