I’m liking what David Fenkel is bringing to the table with Adam Yauch’s less than two-year old label Oscilloscope Pictures. This Spring, the company plans to bring some fresh produce (in terms of socially relevant documentary fair) to market. As the least known title and the only one of the final five noms without a distribution deal in place, The Garden‘s fate in terms of theatrical play, was imminent according to doc filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy (read our interview with him the week prior to the Oscars) and I’m glad he has found a deal with this company who’ve touched upon our water supply (Flow: For the Love of Water), and the electoral system at the beginner’s level (Frontrunners).
The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighbourhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis.
The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers: Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made public? And the powers-that-be have the same response: “The garden is wonderful, but there is nothing more we can do.” If everyone told you nothing more could be done, would you give up?
After a planted release this Spring, the doc will later bloom with the DVD release in the summer.