2009 Student Films

In 2009, the Environmental Filmmaking Workshop was taught by Gregg Mitman, Judith Helfand, and Megan Katz. The student films were shown throughout the 2009 Tales from Planet Earth film festival. Since then, they have been shown as part of the Making It Home project of the Wisconsin Humanities Council and were shown as part of The Natural Step Monona's Green Tuesdays and Thursdays. In addition, America's Dairyland won Best Documentary Short at the Indie Gathering Film Festival in Cleveland.

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America's Dairyland

Directed by Kevin Gibbons

100% pure Wisconsin queso

How white is our milk? How American is our cheese – in fact, who actually makes it? More and more of Wisconsin's farmer Johns are working with farmer Juans. Come on a tour of "America's Dairyland" and meet today’s milk producers and cheese packers – the new faces of dairy production. Sí, the Wisconsin countryside is changing.

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An End to Slim Pickings

Directed by Signe Brewster

The best kind of fruit is free

Madison is known for the second largest farmers market in North America and a love of all things local. But how “local” is our food -- really? Meet a community of gleaners who call Madison home and know just where to find apples, pears, grapes, raspberries and even kiwis in backyards, vacant lots, university walkways and gardens across the city.

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Getting Them Home

Directed by Maggie Flamingo

Commitment comes naturally

They come with broken bodies, tattered wings, and little hope. Only commitment, passion, and loyalty will get them home. It’s a love story...with a wild streak.

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Holy Land, WI

Directed by Meridith Beck Sayre

Some of Wisconsin's most sacred land is under farmer Frank’s feet

Frank Shadwald is a 77-year-old retired farmer who owns several hundred acres of valuable farm land in the Lower Wisconsin River Valley. But to Frank, his land is worth far more than money. There are fifteen ancient Native American effigy mounds located on his property, an important site of Native American culture—past and present. For the past twenty years, Frank has worked to preserve them. But what will happen to the land when Frank is not here to protect it?

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More Jam, More Jobs

Directed by Jesse Mursky Fuller

One young woman's attempt to convince twelve sororities to buy local

When Chi Omega sorority sister Jessica Halpern finds out that buying high quality, locally produced products can help create jobs for homeless people in her town, she takes matters into her own hands. Follow Jessica and her tray of crackers as she tries to change sorority consumption patterns, and the local commodity food chain, one sister at a time — by buying Porchlight jam.

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Plastics One Through Seven

Directed by Liese Dart

How one woman's idea in North Freedom, Wisconsin changed an entire industry and made a whole nation look for a tiny little number

Meet Millie Zantow, 86, resident of North Freedom, Wisconsin and an environmental hero -- at one point she was the only person sorting plastic in America. Her very simple question & revolution led to years of tenacious advocacy that turned the heads of the EPA and led to a national recycling policy — a veritable plastics revolution.

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