Farmer our
| documentary | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Farmer our |
| Country of production | Austria |
| original language | German , English , French |
| Publishing year | 2016 |
| length | 92 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 0 JMK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Robert Schabus |
| production | Helmut Grasser |
| music | Andreas Frei |
| camera | Lukas Gnaiger |
| cut |
Paul-Michael Sedlacek , Robert Schabus |
| occupation | |
| |
Bauer Unser is an Austrian documentary film that deals with the various mechanisms of increasingly industrialized agriculture in Europe in the early 21st century. Using portraits of several farms and interviews with agricultural politicians and representatives from trade and processing, the film takes a critical look at the structural change that goes with it.
content
Bauer Unser deals with economic, structural and social aspects of agriculture which, according to the film, are not conveyed through the usual media presentation. A close connection between livestock and farmer seems to be in the interest of the consumer, but politicians set the framework for industrialization.
The film takes up the tension of agriculture in a globalized world between profitability, sustainability, consumers and farmers' self-view. For this purpose, director Robert Schabus portrays six Austrian farms of very different sizes - from a small organic farm with around 20 sheep to a large farm with over 65,000 laying hens. Both the production conditions on the farms and the situation in the processing industry and trade are examined. The farmers affected - from organic sheep farmers to agricultural engineers - have their say, as do politicians and representatives from processing and trade.
Bauer Our positions itself critically towards a free market for food, which, from the film's point of view, mainly gives disadvantages to European agriculture due to a market- oriented course of the EU agricultural policy. The film also assumes that farmers' incomes will fall, which EU policy is trying to compensate for with more exports and free trade . This creates the problem that European farmers have to face the global food market, in which a tough price war is raging and, in particular, smaller farms are often left behind. In the meantime, the remaining companies had largely given in to the pressure to specialize, intensified their production, invested large sums of money or switched from full-time to part-time jobs.
At the same time, Bauer our also shows farmers who are trying to avoid this dependence on industry and trade and the associated principle of growing or giving way through alternative production, marketing and sales methods, for example in the form of direct marketing , regionalization and organic production
People (selection)
farmers
- Friedrich Grojer
- Dairy farmer from the Görtschitztal has invested 2.2 million euros since taking over his parents' farm to produce almost 4,000 liters of milk a day from around 130 cows with the help of milking robots . The sharp drop in prices since the abolition of the so-called milk quota has hit him hard financially, but he still defends its end and hopes that the market will shake it up .
- Ewald Grünzweil
- Organic dairy farmer from the Mühlviertel , keeps 40 dairy cows on a grassland farm . He is a sharp critic of the politics of permanent growth (quote: “growth mania” ), which in his opinion happens at the expense of humans, animals and the environment. He regards the abolition of the milk quota as a mistake and makes the resulting increases in production mainly responsible for the rapid decline in prices.
- Martin Suette
- Farmer (pork) from the Gurktal , keeps 1,500 pigs in his largely automated stable. He is particularly suffering from the sharp drop in the price of pork, which at times goes so far that he has to accept a financial loss when selling his product. He also explains the need for South American soy for fattening and establishes a connection between the so-called death of farmers and the structural decline of rural areas .
- Franz Tatschl
- Farmer (eggs) from the Lavant Valley , he keeps 65,000 laying hens in a fully automated barn , which lay around 55,000 eggs every day. He counters the drop in prices by consciously relying on production in the highest possible number of pieces and aligning all operating parameters to the highest possible profitability.
- Simon cousin
- Organic farmers (vegetables and meat) from the Rhine Valley , grows a wide range of different vegetables, keeps cattle for meat production and offers them for sale along with various refined products. He relies entirely on direct marketing and the resulting personal contact with customers. He criticized the system of agricultural support, which he sees as an obstacle to innovation, and calls for an opening of peasant professional organization to allow more variety.
- Maria Vogt
- Organic farmer (wine, vegetables, sheep meat) from the Weinviertel , consciously relies on diversity in the products produced in order to be as crisis-proof as possible. In addition, it pursues the goal of being able to operate the company without loans in order to maintain its independence from banks.
Agricultural politicians and business people
- José Bové
- French politician and MEP , criticizes the global free trade in food, which he makes responsible for the destruction of peasant livelihoods, especially in the global south, and the resulting refugee movements towards Europe. He also speaks of an increase in suicides by farmers in France.
- Josef Braunshofer
- Managing Director of Berglandmilch , speaks of the cognitive dissonance of consumers who, on the one hand, want ecologically produced products that are committed to animal welfare, but mostly choose the cheapest product in front of the supermarket shelf. Furthermore, he states that neoliberalism is sometimes "very brutal" , but still the best system in view of the alternatives.
- Mella Frewen
- Director General of FoodDrinkEurope , supports free trade agreements such as TTIP and explains what she sees as the important role of the interest group in Brussels.
- Benedikt Harlin
- The supervisory board of the World Agricultural Report, Berlin office manager of the Agriculture Future Foundation , is a key figure in Bauer Unser . As one of the authors of the World Agriculture Report , he takes a stand on a wide variety of topics and argues mainly on the basis of the report.
- Martin Häusling
- German politician and MEP , criticizes the policy of the EU Commission in that it primarily relies on the mechanisms of the free market economy in food production . He also questions the usefulness of area-based subsidies, since they are primarily at a disadvantage for small farmers.
- Phil Hogan
- Irish EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development , sees the problem of falling peasant incomes as a temporary phenomenon and relies primarily on exports to solve it. To open up new markets, he advocates free trade agreements with countries like Canada, Mexico, Vietnam and Japan.
- Andrä Rupprechte
- Austrian Minister of Agriculture, confirms that Austrian agriculture has “arrived on the market” . He sees them well equipped for the future and, in order to ensure the competitiveness of Austrian farmers, is primarily investing in their infrastructure.
Movie quotes (selection)
"So that you can buy the latest cell phone and drive a really smart car, the food must not be too expensive."
“The milk market is collapsing and nobody is talking about having to reduce the amount of milk - no politicians, no dairies, no cooperatives. If I have a saturated market, then must I cut production. There is no other industry, I call it so straightforward, that is as stupid as we are and doesn't cut production straight away. "
"All of the Austrian hams are basically Brazilian because they are mostly made from Brazilian soy."
“I see myself as a farmer, very straight. [...] To this day, the job in the world. There is no other branch of the economy that not only literally keeps more people in their bread and work than agriculture. I think that's kind of cool. "
“That is the future of the farm. We have to produce more cheaply and then it's only about the quantity in the end. "
“The compulsion to grow now also affects the last. The pressure is great. "
“Why are the villages empty? Only one or two farmers in each village? Everyone withdraws. There is no more village life, little communication. Those who are still in full-time employment have enough to do. Then there is also the drop in prices and then you shouldn't be frustrated. "
“We are seeing an incredible increase in suicides in agriculture. In France, for example, we have around 600 farm suicides a year. "
style
Bauer Unser is a film whose plot is mainly driven by conversations with the protagonists. The conversation situations are always situated in the immediate work environment of the interviewed person. Additional facts and statistics are cut between the scenes in white text on a black background.
Visually, calm and clearly designed images are used. On the sound level, mostly only the original sound can be heard, but little is amplified with music.
Production and evaluation
Bauer Unser was produced by the Viennese production company Allegro Film ( We Feed the World , More than Honey ). The film was financed by funds from the Austrian Film Institute , the ORF ( film and television agreement ) and the Vienna Film Fund . The film was shot over a period of almost a year, from August 2015 to May 2016, in Austria, Belgium and France.
The Austrian theatrical release was on November 11, 2016 in over 50 cinemas in the distribution of the Filmladen . With 90,161 visitors, the film was the second most successful Austrian cinema film of 2016. In 2017 it was awarded the Austrian Ticket for more than 75,000 visitors. The theatrical release in Germany was on March 23, 2017 and in Switzerland on May 11, 2017.
In addition to the classic cinema exploitation, our Bauer is also part of a program initiated by Schulkino.at , which is aimed specifically at schoolchildren and teachers with selected cinema films. This means that there is extensive teaching material for the film and it is possible to book school screenings.
The Austrian film evaluation agency awarded Bauer our the rating worth seeing . The Youth Media Commission of the Federal Ministry of Education emphasizes the film as “recommended for ages 12 and up” .
The film has been available on DVD and as a stream ( Amazon , iTunes , Flimmit , etc.) since September 2017 . In 2019 the film was released on DVD as part of the Edition Österreichischer Film von Hoanzl and the Standard .
Awards
- Austrian Ticket 2017
- Diagonale 2017 - Award for the most innovative production performance
- Austrian Film Award 2018 - nomination in the category Best Documentary
- Romy Awards 2017 - Nomination in the category Best Documentary Cinema
Reviews
“It is a polyphonic portrait of the compulsions that guide food production in Austria, as portrayed by filmmaker Robert Schabus […]: the farmers who groan under the dogma of efficiency and those who refuse to sell on the farm; The business representatives, dairy bosses and officials who hope for new markets in Vietnam or Japan or who denounce the misfortune caused by ever higher production rates at ever lower prices - they all have their say and vividly illustrate the connections between market mechanisms and realities of life.
The meritorious work that Schabus Doku does is that the consumer, far from where his food is produced, feels that something is wrong with what goes from the supermarket to his mouth every day. And then perhaps grapples with the question: Do we really want food production that completely submits to the laws of the market? "
“How one can produce as cheaply as possible, in large quantities - and what impact this has on farmers, the environment and ultimately on the market price - this is the question that the comprehensive documentary by Robert Schabus investigates in carefully staged images. There are those farmers who bow to the pressure to maximize profit by expanding their business and concentrating on just one 'product' - for example the pig. It is not uncommon for this to result in overproduction and price dumping. The unhappiness of the farmers, which is expressed in France, for example, by an enormous suicide rate, but also alternative forms of farming - compactly summarized and intelligently argued. "
“Even after countless processes, the topic is still exciting and says a lot about societies that produce their food industrially. Schabus captures this aspect excellently. "
Epd Film's criticism sees little new in terms of the motifs of the film and their description compared to similar documentaries. Rather, the film takes up standardized images of “laser-controlled milking machines” and “oversized chicken batteries”, deals with the usual problems such as pressure to expand and farmers' debt, and presents the opinions of some lobbyists and critics. Finally, as an encouragement, selected positive counterexamples are presented. On the other hand, the reluctance to comment is noted positively. The role of the lobbying organization FoodDrinkEurope and its influence on European legislation is assessed as an interesting aspect, but not highlighted enough in the film .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for our farmer . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 165617 / K).
- ↑ Age rating for our farmer . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ Brandenburg State Center for Political Education: Bauer Unser - Cheap food. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
- ^ Farmer Our. In: cinemaxxl.de. Retrieved August 28, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Documentary Bauer ours should make you think , Wiener Zeitung, November 4, 2016.
- ↑ Bauer our - Documentary off the Idylle , Carinthia ORF at, from October 25, 2016.
- ↑ Brandenburg State Center for Civic Education : BAUER UNSER - BILLIGE NAHRUNG, for the 12th Festival of Environmental and Nature Films, eco-film tour 2017
- ↑ Austrian Film Institute - Our Farmer. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
- ↑ Filmfonds Wien - Bauer our. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
- ^ Film Austria - visitor statistics 2016. Accessed on January 14, 2017 .
- ↑ a b List of Diamond-Super-Golden-Austria Tickets 2017 . accessed on February 2, 2017.
- ↑ Kino-Zeit.de - Our farmer. Retrieved March 24, 2017 .
- ↑ Movies.ch - Our farmer. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
- ↑ Schulkino.at - our farmer. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
- ↑ WKO.at - Film predicates. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
- ↑ Our farmer. Film database search result. In: jmkextern.bmb.gv.at. Federal Ministry of Education, accessed on May 1, 2018 .
- ↑ MFA + Filmdistribution - Bauer our from September 1st 2017 on DVD. Retrieved December 6, 2017 .
- ↑ orf.at: Large Diagonale Prizes were awarded . Article dated April 1, 2017, accessed April 1, 2017.
- ^ Austrian Film Academy - Nominations for the 2018 Film Award. Accessed December 6, 2017 .
- ↑ Kurier: ROMY Academy honors Birgit Hutter with a platinum award . Article dated March 20, 2017, accessed March 20, 2017.
- ↑ Alois Pumhösel: food production in Austria: Free Market instead idyll. In: derStandard.at. November 10, 2016, accessed January 14, 2017 .
- ↑ Alexandra Seibel: Our farmer: Large quantities, small prices. In: Kurier.at. November 10, 2016, accessed January 14, 2017 .
- ^ Matthias Greuling: Farmer Our: Grow or die. In: WienerZeitung.at. November 10, 2016, accessed January 14, 2017 .
- ↑ Silvia Hallensleben: Review of our Bauer at Epd-Film, accessed on March 18, 2017