Oct. 21, 2010

‘Hungry for Green’ getting national attention

MITCHELL — It’s a little film that’s growing up to do big things.

“Hungry for Green: Feeding the World Sustainably” first premiered Nov. 13 at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment. The premier was followed a week later by a broadcast on South Dakota Public Broadcasting, but it has only been recently that the documentary short has been available for national viewing and has already been broadcast on PBS affiliates in several states.

The film was produced by Dr. Don Simmons, director of and associate professor in the McGovern Center and dean of the College of Leadership and Public Service at DWU, and directed by Matthew Barr, professor of broadcasting and cinema at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

“Films that air on public television go through a National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) review process to make sure they meet certain quality standards, including things like High Definition, appropriate length and closed captioning, and we finished that process about six weeks ago,” Simmons said. “It has already been picked up by at least 10 national television affiliates and will be shown in most of California, including on KCET in Los Angeles and KQED in San Francisco, during the months of October and November.”

The film, which has received considerable praise from critics, including most recently as part of the 2010 ChathamArts Sustainable Cinema Series, uses the 2008 McGovern Conference as a jumping-off point for a discussion on the challenge of feeding the world’s ever expanding world population sustainably, as well as the future of agriculture in America and abroad.

Ken Burns, a documentary film maker who has been nominated for two Academy Awards and is a winner of seven Emmys for his work, noted, “This is an important film that underscores the urgency of achieving agricultural sustainability to help alleviate hunger and protect our natural environment.”

“We are excited about the attention the film is starting to get on the national stage,” Simmons said. “People who were not familiar with DWU and the McGovern Center are now calling about partnering on future projects and commending us about our work. The film has definitely improved the Center's profile nationally.”

“Hungry for Green” is narrated by Sen. George McGovern who, along with Sen. Bob Dole, was the 2008 co-recipient of the World Food Prize for his work fighting world hunger. Shot almost entirely in Mitchell, Gregory, Chamberlain and surrounding communities, the film features interviews with a number of South Dakotans, including Dusty Johnson, S.D. public utilities commissioner and adjunct professor for the McGovern Center.

Copies of the documentary are available and can be obtained by contacting the bookstore in the McGovern Library at 605-995-2805, or e-mail LoSolber@dwu.edu.