Great News! Our film about food co-ops in the Twin Cities was selected as a Winner of the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) Short Film Festival held at the UN headquarters in New York City last month. Several co-op leaders, myself, and members of my crew travelled to New York to receive the award. We produced this 15-minute film– a chapter from the feature-length film Food For Change– to gain advance publicity for the feature film to be released in Spring 2013, and to show strategies to expand the cooperative movement in the United States and throughout the world.
Category: Updates – Newsletters
Newsletter #9: October 2012
Project Director Steve Alves gives update on the submission of 15-minute film to the United Nations IYC Short Film Festival and the fundraising status of the project.
Newsletter #8: July 2012
Project Director Steve Alves gives updates on the fundraising status of the film and talks about the presentation of the rough-cut at CCMA in Philadelphia. Also included is audience feedback from the CCMA audience. Two clips are released from the rough cut shown at CCMA. The first is from the first 13-minutes in the work-in-progress film, and the second is the last eight minutes. Co-Producer Rob Hagelstein writes an article about what cooperation means to him. Finally, the Principal Sponsor map is updated with three new contributors.
Newsletter #7: April 2012
Project Director Steve Alves gives updates on the editing process. Three new clips are released. Clip #1 is from the rough cut and examines the growth of food co-ops in the 1970s. Clip #2 features Seward Co-op General Manager Sean Doyle talking about issues facing food co-ops today. Clip #3 is about the new wave of co-op growth. Clips 1 & 2 are not from the rough cut but are a step in the editing process of ferreting out the salient topics for last part of the film. A map of all the principal sponsors is released, showing which co-ops are contributing the film in line with the funding plan. Finally, it is announced that Food For Change will be attending CCMA this year in Philadelphia.
Newsletter #6: December 2011
Co-Producer Rob Hagelstein gives update on ramp-up of production and editing. Marketing Manager Allie Mentzer reports on Food For Change Director Steve Alves’ keynote speech to the Linden Hills Co-op’s annual member meeting. Erbin Crowell, Executive Director of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association, reports on Steve’s presentation of the film at the NFCA member meeting.
Newsletter #6
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Newsletter #5: June 2011
Director Steve Alves provides update on 38 new co-op contributors. Interview clips released of eminent co-op historian David Thompson. Dave Finet, General Manager of East Lansing Food Co-op, explains why the film needs the support of the food co-op community. John Bryan, Director of Marketing at Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op, says why his co-op is investing in the film and how they plan to use it. Dan Gillotte, General Manager of Wheatsville Food Co-op, tells why his co-op is sponsoring Food For Change in line with the project’s funding plan.
Newsletter #4: March 2011
Director Steve Alves describes plan for film’s release. Sharon Murphy, General Manager of Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth, Minnesota, tells why her co-op is motivated to sponsor the film. Allie Menzter, Marketing Manager of the Linden Hills Co-op in Minneapolis, Minnesota, says co-ops need education effort to explain difference between co-ops and big box competitors. Chris Maher, General Manager of the Briar Patch Co-op in Grass Valley, California, explains the need for a movie like Food For Change to explain to members and the general public about the cooperative business model.
Newsletter #3: December 2010
Director Steve Alves gives an update on the fundraising status of the film. Two new scenes from the film are released that show the backdrop of co-op expansion in the 1970s and the internal challenges those co-ops faced. Carol Spurling, Marketing Manager of the Moscow Food Co-op in Moscow, Idaho, explains how the power of movies to educate members inspired their co-op to contribute in line with the project’s funding plan. David Lippman, General Manager of the North Coast Co-op in Arcata and Eureka, California, explains the need for a movie that tells the history of food co-ops.
Newsletter #3
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Newsletter #2: September 2010
Director Steve Alves explains why film’s historical focus is relevant today. Lindy Bannister, General Manager of the Wedge Co-op in Minneapolis, Minnesota, tells why her co-op is contributing and how the film addresses two of their core principles: education and co-ops helping co-ops. Suzette Snow-Cobb, Co-General Manager of the Franklin Community Co-op in Greenfield, Massachusetts, shares why her co-op initiated the project with a $35,000 investment.
Newsletter #2
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Newsletter #1: April 2010
Student intern, Jeremy Goldsher, reports that Director Steve Alves was the guest speaker at the Historic Unitarian Meetinghouse’s “Food, Glorious Food!” event and art exhibition in Bernardston, Massachusetts, where Steve presented scenes from his work-in-progress film, Food For Change.