Docs Equinox Presents 'Cultivating Connections'

Hamptons Doc Fest, in partnership with the Southampton Arts Center, presents Docs Equinox, a four-film kick-off celebration of Earth Day week running Friday, April 12, to Sunday, April 14, at SAC.

The theme of the series is “Cultivating Connections: Soils, Farms, Food” and the three-day program launches at the start of Earth Day week, when East End residents and farmers dig into soils created eons ago by the ancient glaciers and considered some of the most productive in the country.

In 2023, the Docs Equinox program expanded on drinking water and the aquifer. This year Docs Equinox explores sustainable farming, and the soils that make it possible. Over the course of the weekend Docs Equinox will present four compelling documentary films, and offer food and wine receptions, engaging speakers, authors and participation by food and farmland advocates. The Earth Central Hub on Friday and Saturday will highlight four environmental groups that are part of Docs Equinox who will share tips, news and know-how. They are: ChangeHampton, Cornell Cooperative Extension, East End Food and Peconic Land Trust.

Docs Equinox tickets are $20 ($15 members, $10 students) for each day. A three-day pass is $50 ($40 members) at hamptonsdocfest.com or Southamptonartscenter.org. Southampton Arts Center is at 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton.

Friday, April 12

5:30 to 7 p.m. Cocktail Reception & Earth Central Hub

7 p.m. Intro: Directors Robert Kenner, Melissa Robledo

Film: “Food, Inc. 2: Back for Seconds”

Since the first Oscar-nominated film, “Food Inc.,” multinational corporations have tightened their stronghold on the U.S. government. The system at large has robbed workers of a fair living wage, and profit-focused corporations are proliferating a chemically formulated international health crisis by focusing on growing the market for ultra-processed foods.

The film centers around innovative farmers, future-thinking food producers, workers’ rights activists and prominent legislators such as U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Jon Tester, who are facing these companies head-on to inspire change and build a healthier, more sustainable future.

Saturday, April 13

5:30 to 7 p.m. Cocktail Reception & Earth Central Hub

7 p.m. Intro: Kate Plumb

Film: “Common Ground”

“Common Ground” is a rousing and uplifting documentary that shows a pathway to transform our unhealthy and corrupt industrial agricultural food system into an ecological way of growing food that can restore our health, our communities, and our climate. The film chronicles the budding “Regenerative Agriculture” movement, a type of farming based on working with nature, instead of against it. The film won the Human/Nature Awards Tribeca Film Festival and took the Best Documentary Audience Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival

Sunday, April 14

11 a.m. Breakfast Bites

11:45 Talk: Scott Chaskey

12:10 Films: “The Soul of a Farmer” and “KELP!’

“The Soul of a Farmer” by director, producer and editor Roger Sherman shadows Patty Gentry, a former chef, as she battles to earn a living on her three-acre Early Girl Farm on Long Island. Isabella Rossellini, from whom Patty rents her land, tells us, “Patty is the Picasso of vegetables!” A Q&A with Patty Gentry follows

“KELP!” directed by Anna Roberts and Caylon La Mantia, tells the story of a young aspiring filmmaker who, under the looming shadow of ecological breakdown, goes in search of a surprising super-solution that can help build a better future for humans and the planet. Join her and the crew on an epic visual journey aboard the good ship Gleaner through Britain’s rugged coastline, as they discover the power of kelp to regenerate coasts and empower communities.