FILM: Why is the family farm fading? Filmmaker at Images Aug. 1

Posted by Janet Curran <janet@imagescinema.org>

<h2>AMERICAN FARM Documentary with the Director</h2>

Williamstown, Mass. -- Independent documentary filmmaker James Spione will introduce the New England premiere of his film, AMERICAN FARM, at Images Cinema on Monday, August 1 at 7pm. This event is co-presented by Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation. Regular ticket prices apply (general admission $8, students and seniors $6, members $4). Images Cinema is located at 50 Spring Street in Williamstown, MA.

AMERICAN FARM (2005, Not Rated, 90 minutes) is an account of the Ames family farm in Richfield Springs, New York, but it is also an elegy for a vanishing way of life. Langdon Ames, a cousin of the director James Spione, is the fifth son to own the dairy farm, and has been running the business since his early twenties. He is now in his seventies, and no one in the next generation is willing to take over the farm. Says Mr. Spione, “With globalization, the increasing corporatization of agriculture, the so-called Wal Mart effect on small town America, the whole idea of closely-knit community is under fire. In many ways, the plight of my family’s farm is but one aspect of what people seem to perceive as a general trend.”

Pulse Magazine describes AMERICAN FARM as “A distinctly American story about everyday people and their struggle to preserve the things they cherish. . .The result is not a film that languishes in nostalgic clichés, but rather thrills its audience with its examination of real people involved in rich, complex relationships.”

More information about the film can be found at www.americanfarmmovie.com.

One of the few year-round single-screen nonprofit cinemas left in the country, Images Cinema is ever expanding its programming to meet the educational and cultural needs of the community, while maintaining its dedication to quality independent film. Images Cinema is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. Current happenings are listed at www.imagescinema.org.

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For more information Contact:
Sandra Thomas, 413 458 1039, at Images Cinema