Adventure 19: Brewvies and Utah Film Center Present: GMO OMG
If you are unaware, the Utah Film Center puts on regular screenings of a variety of films for free! There's usually a series that will go on for a few months with a variety of films on that subject. For example, feminism, natural disasters, design. There are at least 2 films a week playing somewhere in the area. Pretty cool, right? It's such an amazing contribution to the community. I go every chance I can.
They sometimes show at Brewviews, this little place that shows films, and is also a bar and grill. I've heard buzz of this place since I moved to Salt Lake City, but have never made it to a show. I honestly didn't get the clever meaning behind it's name until I was walking up to the theater last night and saw the name in big hollywood letters with the marquee under it. Oh! I get it... brews and movies, BREWVIES! Cute.
It was quite spacious inside for a bar. It's split into a bar to the left, and the theaters (there are 2 of them) to the right, where you can also order food. The seating inside the theater (except for the front row where I sat) has a tray the length of the row for you to place your food and drinks on. Great date night idea!
The documentary scheduled to play was GMO OMG. It was part of the Downtown Farmer's Market Eat Local week. I knew nothing about this film. I know many people have been talking about GMO's lately, and that it's a concern. But I didn't see the trailer, and wasn't sure what to expect.
I want to throw in this note, it was packed! They started turning people away close to start time. From what I gathered to talking to a few people, It was a very interested audience, who were invested in this topic.
Well, a surprise (to me) was announced that the short local KUED film, A Changing Harvest was to be shown first. This film is about local farmers and their disappearance from the rapid development of housing in Utah. Here's a sneaky shoot of the screen. One interesting thing said in the film that struck me was that the best farm land has already been developed, so we've only got what's left to work with, and even that is getting slimmer.
The main attraction then started. I was enjoying the film too much to grab any sneaky screen shots, and that's what I want to tell you, the film was very enjoyable! I'm always a little weary of going to a film like this which seems to have the purpose of exposing shocking facts. I usually come away feeling nauseated (especially when the subject relates to the food I'm consuming), or emotionally exhausted.
This film came from a really honest place. The film maker is a 30 something father of 3 who is concerned because there seemed to be no information about what GMO's are doing to our bodies. So he starts a quest of asking questions. He questions people on the street, to the agriculture chemicals company, Monsanto, to commercial and organic farmers. It was touching and personal. He had frank and charming conversations with his oldest son who's obsession for seeds plays very well with the plot of the doc. It was also educational, but mostly put a blaring light on the fact that there is next to no information available to the public on what we're putting in our bodies when we eat GMO's.
Here are a few attempts to get our picture in front of the bright marquee post film... there's a creepy one down there.
And of course, I was pleased with this free mag about local food here in Utah! Really beautiful job, the contributors have put together a quality free magazine. And, while I couldn't find any attribution, it feels and looks like it's printed on recycled paper.
Time spent on adventure: 2 hours
Money spent: $0
Recommendation: 7 out of 10 adventure points!
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