Plant, Pick & Eat It

Plant, Pick & Eat It - A documentary

Is gardening an adventure? Yes! Especially when you start gardening with your neighbors who you don‘t know and who hardly have any skills in gardening. From your window you see the spot, where things start to happen: an urban paltry square of grass, not even worth to notice. Will it work out? While digging in the soil and sowing the first seeds into the freshly made vegetable patches you get to know your neighbors and wonder, why on earth you never talked to them before: They share sun lotion with you on hot, sunny days, you puzzle with them about a berry that might be a chili and at the end of the day you enjoy a perfect summer party with everyone on the formal ugly grass spot which now is a wonderful, public vegetable garden. No enemies ahead! Sorry, well, there are troubles and they are very bureaucratic. But are they bigger than everything that has grown in the garden?

About

Just a short step into the garden but a yummy leap towards urban food security!
Community gardening can change the people‘s minds and perspectives. It is a delightful way to get in touch with nature, to meet new friends and to harvest the base of life in the centre of the city: food. We follow a group of neighbors in Germany who successfully turn a public and paltry grassed area in front of their homes into a wonderful vegetable garden. As their garden grows, friendships develop and the neighbors learn more than they had ever expected. But the local authorities want to stop them although this new city attraction is a big success. Giving up is not an option and the neighbors face the challenges: urban gardening turns into a social and political activity.

 


 

International Film Festivals

2015: Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival, Toronto (Canada) -- Competition
2015: NaturVision Filmfestival, Ludwigsburg (Germany) -- Competition
2015: Crossroads Festival, Graz (Austria) -- Official Selection
2015: Green Me Filmfestival, Berlin (Germany) -- Competition
2014: Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival (Germany) -- Nomination: Golden Hercules

Award

2015: NaturVision Film Music Award, NaturVision Filmfestival, Ludwigsburg (Germany)

 


 

Director & Producer: Ines Reinisch

Ines Reinisch

Ines Reinisch

Ines Reinisch, born 1978 in Hamburg, Germany, is a passionate documentary film director and producer with a special focus on organic agriculture and sustainable development. She is trained in communication design, specialised in audiovisual media and has worked for several TV feature films and TV serials as well as a director, producer, cinematographer, editor, screenplay writer and designer. In addition she realised the photo-documentary „Wild Sheep Chase“ in Northern Norway and has also gained extensive work experience in Wales and Mexico. Ines is currently obtaining a degree in Organic Agricultural Sciences at the University of Kassel. Ines Reinisch is member of the German Documentary Association AG DOK.

 


 

Directors Statement

The dimension of global, environmental challenges can be frightening, but the change can be done by everyone in very small steps. And these steps can be very pleasant, delightful and  delicious!

In my documentary „Plant, Pick & Eat It“ I focus on the worldwide movement of Community Gardening. Citizens create community gardens on public green areas and unused, uncultivated urban land. These gardens are organized by neighbors and local groups and provide not only freshly grown food, but also lead to the development of a collaborative neighborhood community. Although community gardens differ in size, plant variety, design and the number of gardeners, they have many things in common: the concept of a democratic, open-minded and supportive community, organic garden cultivation, recycling and the sustainable use of resources like water, soil and energy. In addition community gardening can be of high educational value not just for the gardeners themselves but also for visitors, school classes and families.

Besides these social benefits of community gardening, the ecological aspect is also remarkable: due to the re-greening of backyards, formally unused concrete areas such as car parks, rooftops (e.g. of supermarkets, storehouses) and hard shoulders, the plants lower the cities temperatures in hot summers, they improve water management after cloudbursts and the air quality within the cities. The high variety of plants offers improved nourishment for bees and other insects and creates a wide range of biodiversity in urban areas. Urban Gardeners conserve and share seeds from plants and vegetable species, which diversity has been declined by environmental degradation, pollution, intensive agricultural food production and industrial trade interests.

But public gardening in urban areas is often limited by regulations set up by local authorities and other related aspects. Either in terms of finances, when investors plan profitable real estates on unused urban ground or in terms of political action as there is often no interest to support the community gardeners.

Instead of a retrospective perspective, the camera follows the group of neighbors in a cinematic preset. These neighbors didn‘t not know each other before nor had they any remarkable gardening skills. They make mistakes, they learn, they become friends and with their action they gain a wider perspective on food production and on the possibility to design a well-functioning neighborhood.

Community gardening can change the peoples mind. They get in touch with nature, they get in touch with themselves, they get in contact with other people. They harvest the base of life, food, and even more: a step towards independency. And gardening can be understood as a political action, too: We seed the world we want to live in.

 


 

The Music

E_NaturVision

Thomas Hoehl composed the music for "Plant, Pick and Eat It" and was awarded for his composition with the NaturVision Film Music Award in Ludwigsburg, Germany, in July 2015.

Listen, watch and enjoy the "Making the Music: Plant, Pick & Eat It"!

 

 


 

In brief: Plant, Pick & Eat It

Is gardening an adventure? Yes! Especially when you start gardening with your neighbors who you don‘t know and who hardly have any skills in gardening. From your window you see the spot, where things start to happen: a public paltry square of grass, not even worth to notice. Will it work out? Well, perhaps differently than expected...

Original Title: “Wenn ein Garten wächst” // English Title: "Plant, Pick & Eat It"
Documentary, Germany, 2014 // Length: 79min
© Ines Reinisch 2014