Food Transition, the documentary that wants to shake up our eating habits.

Food Transition is a documentary film project to show positive initiatives, in France and the United States, at all levels of the food chain. Farmers and stockbreeders, doctors and scientists, chefs and actors of the collective catering industry, citizens: each at their own level, these charismatic characters act for the emergence of a new food model that respects the earth, animal welfare, health and the environment. To launch production, a participatory fundraising campaign is underway. They need all of us for this committed film that aims to bring hope for healthy and sustainable food.

 

C’is a meeting on the benches of the college which decided on their future together: Stéphanie Valloatto and Cyrille Blanc met in seventh grade, pursuing the same desire to meet people and travel. From Saint-Malo, where they live, they dream of making films to tell the life stories of those who fight, transmit, open their minds and hearts for a better world: they are the heroes of their documentaries! They bought a small camera and microphones. They organized the location scouting and went to Madagascar to follow a Breton trade unionist who was defending the African sailors exploited on board the tuna boats flying the flag of the European Union. The film, "Robin des mers", was broadcast on France 3.

 

What drives them? Parents of two little girls who follow them in all their projects and travels, they dream of making a positive, exciting, human and popular film that sheds light on existing solutions and makes all those who have seen it want to take part in FOOD TRANSITION for themselves and future generations.

 

Stéphanie, writing and directing; Cyrille, image and production: together, they have directed and produced a dozen documentary films, always on committed themes such as the importance of origins ("Le Passeur de mémoire"), the human adventure at the end of the world ("Le cœur de l'homme, patrimoine de l'humanité"), the life of Philippe Labro in a portrait "between shadow and light" for the Empreintes - France 5 collection...

Their feature-length documentary film "Cartoonists - Infantrymen of Democracy", co-written and co-produced with Radu Mihaileanu, tells the story of 12 cartoonists who fight every day for democracy and freedom with pencil as their only weapon. Selected at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, nominated for the 2015 Cesar and 2015 Henri Langlois Prize for Best Documentary Film, broadcast in 80 international festivals.

 

Like thousands of people in France and the United States, they have more and more patients in their entourage: breast, pancreatic, liver and thyroid cancer. Some of them are relatives who have heart problems, others are entering the spiral of depression... And you can't miss the explosion of obesity! Each time the same question: why?

Concerned about their health and that of their loved ones, they took a close interest in food. They asked themselves a lot of questions: What do we eat? How are the animals fed? What impact does it have on our health? On the environment? 

As parents, they see it as their responsibility to leave their children a clean land, to provide them with healthy foods, products from well-treated animals, and to educate them about the cultivation, care, taste and nutritional value of food. 

They rediscovered the principle "We are what we eat" by reading Jane Goodall's book. That's how the idea of making a positive film that gives the keys to inspiration, understanding and action was born.

For the past year, they have been conducting surveys in France and the United States with all the players in the food chain: documentation, location scouting, interviews.

 

Why did you go to the United States? Our entire food production system is based on the American model! In 50 years in the fields, we have gone from polycultures to intensive monocultures, with the massive introduction of corn, soy, pesticides and GMOs. On farms, industrialization has become the norm: confined animals, fed on corn and soy, antibiotics, hormones, mass slaughter. And that was before the arrival of fast food! Our eating habits have since completely changed: cheap, fast, with flavour enhancers and no nutritional value.

France and the United States face the same environmental, animal welfare and public health challenges. In these two territories, farmers are evolving, respecting the land, animals and human health by producing food of high nutritional quality.

There are many signs that it's time. In every region, small-scale producers are coming together to sell their products directly or through communities such as La ruche qui dit oui. CIWF is shedding light on the conditions of livestock farming and slaughterhouses, and moving farmers and industrialists towards animal welfare. The "Etats Généraux de l'Alimentation" brought together all the actors for a transformation of our food model. The brand Who's the boss proposes a new model by making the consumer the boss.

 

We are at a pivotal moment. A transition from a model that no longer suits us to a model that we will have chosen together, and in the transition there is not one solution but solutions to get there.

For Stéphanie and Cyrille, it is a question of following in the footsteps of important documentaries such as "Local Solutions for a Global Disorder" by Coline Serreau or "Tomorrow" by Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent by making a film that restores hope.

Chapter 1: Soil Quality

Today, 80% of the fields are occupied by corn, soybean, wheat... Chemical fertilizers (lead, arsenic, mercury) and pesticides. 67.5 million hectares in the world are cultivated with genetically modified seeds mainly cereals which generate their own pesticides. The United States being the leading producer of GMOs!

Disastrous consequences for the earth: dead soil, polluted water tables, deforestation and varieties produced without nutritional density?

Alternatives to all-chemicals... They will meet many farmers and market gardeners who practise permaculture, agro-ecology or biological control... So many practices that help to bring the soil back to life: crop rotation, polycultures, seeds without pesticides or GMOs. And a technological breakthrough: instruments to measure the nutritional density of the soil, vegetables and fruit!

All these initiatives on both sides of the Atlantic are in the direction of respect for our mother earth! "Riches-Terres" (Arnaud Daguin), "Soil Renaissance", "Bionutrient"... They show us that this can be done on a very large scale. International experts confirm that we can feed France, the West and developing countries by creating many jobs thanks to the new agriculture. And within 5 years, thanks to the "grandpa boom", 50% of retiring farmers will be replaced by young farmers trained in agro-ecology .

 

Chapter 2: Animal welfare

With the advent of intensive livestock farming, millions of animals are confined in enclosed spaces. The images show an inhuman, unsustainable reality. Fed mainly on GMO corn and soybean to fatten them up faster, the animals develop diseases that require antibiotic treatments and develop what is known as "antibiotic resistance".

Alternatives to intensive livestock farming... They will go to the four corners of France to meet breeders who love their animals and treat them humanely: in Brittany pigs in the open air; in the south-west ewes in the pastures; in the Aubrac cattle fed on fresh grass. Then they will cross the Atlantic to meet these "Farmers" who, alone or in groups (Organic Valley in the United States has 2,300 farming families), make animal welfare a priority by leaving their animals at liberty, by feeding them grassfed grass in summer and winter, with hay, flax, clover, lupin alfalfa... Commodity chains in France and the United States promote the right ratio of fatty acids for the health of the animals (no antibiotic treatments or growth hormones).

For ethical, health and environmental reasons, intensive livestock farming is disappearing in favour of human-sized farms. Many breeders today can open their doors with complete transparency. But animal welfare will also be addressed by industrialists and distributors who decide to make short-term commitments to animal welfare and quality while remunerating farmers with dignity. This is the whole fight of CIWF (Compassion in World Farming).

 

Chapter 3: Human Health

Every year, 422 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer kill 25 million people. According to the World Cancer Research Fund, 4 million cases of cancer could be prevented by changing eating habits.

The solutions to prevent diseases and to cure oneself: What do all these diseases have in common? Inflammation, which is at the root of all chronic diseases. Nowadays many foods are pro-inflammatory. We must therefore eat and produce food without pesticides, without GMOs, with a nutritional density and a balance of fatty acids.

In France, they will meet cardiologists and oncologists working on the link between health and diet. At the Pasteur Clinic in Toulouse, we have changed the entire diet of patients and employees by favouring local, seasonal products that are balanced in fatty acids. The results are spectacular.

In the United States, Artemis Simopoulos, a specialist in fatty acids, will explain the importance of the right balance between omega 3 and 6 to prevent many diseases. At the National Institute of Public Health in Washington, the eminent neuroscientist Joseph Hibbeln will prove the link between "fast food" and mental illness. The American government is currently reviewing the diet in school canteens, hospitals...

In this chapter, animated images will be used to show concretely what happens inside our body when we ingest a food: what impact on our heart? our brain? our weight?

 

Chapter 4: Respect for the environment

Food is one of the areas with the highest environmental impacts. To produce on an industrial scale requires land, on which fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are used. You need machinery to harvest the crops, vehicles to transport the food. It is estimated that the entire food chain accounts for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.

Whether we are omnivorous, vegetarian, organic, flexitarian, the way we produce and eat has a direct impact on our environment. They will address the big questions: What is the environmental impact of our food? Carbon being the heart of the solution, how can we reduce the carbon footprint of our food?

Solutions beyond the conventional wisdom... The plant world is the key: plants, trees, vegetables, fruits allow us to capture carbon in the atmosphere to reinject it into the earth. And the way we feed animals has a big impact on the environment. Raising animals on soybeans and cereals considerably increases the methane emissions of cattle, while beef raised on natural grass ("grassfed" in the USA), which is rich in omega 3, emits up to 20% less methane than beef raised conventionally. Livestock farming sectors in France and the USA have specialised in this "eco-methane" approach, which is recognised by the UN.

French and American environmental experts will explain that depending on the cultivation or breeding technique used and the amount of meat consumed, very different results can be obtained. An omnivorous diet containing a lot of industrially raised beef will have a deeper impact on the environment than a vegetarian, organic and local diet. Conversely, a diet containing some meat, raised under good conditions (pasture, grassfed, organic feed) will have a lower impact on the environment.

Today, solutions exist to limit our carbon impacts and offset those we have generated (CO2 Solidaire). With the help of animated images (3D), they will show us how to act on a daily basis by making the right choices.

Chapter 5: Keys to Action

After having declined these four chapters showing that solutions exist from the earth to our plate thanks to committed characters, the idea of this last chapter will be to give you the keys to act on a daily basis:

- Taste education: through the work of great chefs in schools who educate children about the land and the taste of food.

- Direct sales: producers who sell directly from their farms, who get together to sell their products in small mini-markets (Farmers of the Bay) or in lockers accessible 24 hours a day (Mickaël Robin) in Saint-Malo as well as in New York (The Farmacy).

- Apps: free on smartphones like Yuka, which allows you to scan food products and get clear health impact information.

- Labels: make the right choices when you buy your eggs, your meat to products from sectors that respect animal welfare (eggs in the open air, AB, ...) and health.

- The Health Star: which will be developed to reward restaurateurs who cook food that is good for our health and our planet.

- Collective catering: they will film in the kitchens of a school that has chosen a responsible canteen: organic products, local produce, varied menus.

 

As Gandhi said: "Be the change you want to see in the world! ». Solutions exist to eat better, and all of us, as consumers, have the power to participate in this transition by buying this or that product, by demanding environmental and nutritional quality so that our children are healthy.

 

More than a film, the couple wants to create a community of enlightened consumers. The groundwork is being laid with their participatory fundraising campaign. More than 300 donors have already participated by building up a fund of 40,000 €. The objective is to reach €100,000 to enable the film to be shot. "We'll get there, is convinced the couple. But the goal is to gather as many people as possible. To show that there are many of us who want a different kind of food. »

 

Facebook: Food Transition - film.

Participatory Financing : www.kisskissbankbank.com/food-transition-le-film.

 

Calendar :
APRIL TO MAY 2018: Agreement with the distributor and TV channels

JUNE TO AUGUST 2018 : Shooting of the film in France and USA

SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2018: Editing and post-production of the film

CURRENT 2019: Release of the film in France and in the USA

 

 

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