Grown in Detroit

Trailer 'Grown in Detroit' from Mascha Poppenk on Vimeo.

The other night we watched Mascha & Manfred Poppenk's wonderful documentary, Grown in Detroit, and I can't tell you how much I loved it.

It's about Catherine Ferguson Academy for Young Women, a public high school for pregnant teens and teen moms, and the school's urban farm. In a city where almost 30% of the land is vacant (enough area to fit the city of Boston or San Francisco) this school is teaching these teen moms how to use that land and profit from it. The students grow all sorts of crops from apples to tomatoes, make apple cider, raise goats and bees. They sell their crops at Eastern Market, the city's weekly farmers market.

Through their work on the farm the students learn about the importance of healthy food for themselves and their children and are empowered by knowing, no matter what, as long as there is land, they can provide that food by growing it.

The film was recently screened at the Toronto Film Festival and won the Documentary Feature Jury Award at the Austin Film Festival as well as numerous other awards.

You can write the filmmakers to watch the film online mail@filmmij.nl