The nine films featured in the '9x9 Film Festival'—created by The Source Project and presented here on Common Dreams in partnership with /The Rules project—have been made for one reason: to help people understand the reality of what’s really happening to the world’s food and farming systems, and why.

As the likes of the World Bank and Bill and Melinda Gates foundation begin to transform the development sector into a business driven model, the positive stories and propaganda that support that model are dominating the story of development. By creating a short films that can then be easily watched and shared on various social media platforms, we are able to not only help counter an imbalance of misinformation within development media but also stimulate consciousness on issues that otherwise would pass unnoticed.

At the heart of all these stories is agriculture, a system, not only of food production but also one that maintains our ecosystem, our cultures, our health and the very survival of humanity.

Natural systems and an agricultural philosophy ~ Punjab, India

It has been proved, beyond doubt that the natural systems of farming benefit, not only human health but also the health of the environment in a long term and sustainable way.

This was one of the first films we made as part of the Source Project and for obvious reasons shot it in Punjab, linking it to the story of the ‘Green Revolution’ and the legacy we now see beginning to be played out across India. This is a narrative that looks at the cause, the symptom and finally a possible solution by one of the more progressive farmers in Punjab, Amarjeet Sharma. 

a natural system and an agricultural Philosophy from the source project on Vimeo.