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DISCLAIMER:

The content of the films presented do not represent the views of the UNA-NCA, UNFPA, UNIFEM, Geoscope Environmental Laboratories, it's staff, nor any of it's partners. The use of these films is restricted to their ability to present a point of view as points of discussion amongst panelists and attendees

"Hijacked Future"

Ethiopia serves as a model for rural western farmers as they look for methods of mass production that increase biodiversity and promote the empowerment of their farmers.
 

Program Summary:

Geoscope worked in conjunction with the UNANCA to discuss the practicality of Ethiopian agricultural methods serving as a model that encourages biodiversity and ultimately empowers the farmers to maximize their profits and production.  Critics of this model identify that it, infact, stifles the model that encourages genetic modification in order to maximize yield and therefore stifles industry growth.

Producers Synopsis:


It's 7 am: do you know where your toast came from?

Eating breakfast toast: a simple ritual to start the day. The bread probably came from a bakery or grocery store, but beyond that who knows where the wheat came from - never mind the seeds that grew the wheat. Do we need to know? A new documentary, "Hijacked Future" says yes, because those seeds that became the toast you ate this morning are being hijacked - right into a looming world food security catastrophe.

While our industrial system of agriculture is providing abundance and variety today, this documentary warns us that it's an unsustainable system. It's a system that literally runs on oil, from fertilizers and pesticides, to the trucks and planes that transport food. And the source of our food - seeds - is being hijacked by a handful of corporations from the farmers who have for millennia, grown and saved them.

The documentary looks at the increasingly fragile base of our North American industrial food system.. It asks us to question the wisdom of a system precariously based on oil and corporate seeds while we're at the same time witnessing the impact of climate change.

Production Information:

Hijacked Future was produced in association with Global Television, a division of Canwest Media Inc., with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund, with the assistance of Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, with the participation of The Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC and with the financial support of British Columbia Film Project Development Fund.