Two filmmakers from Vancouver want to point their cameras at Canadian farmers, with the hope that their documentary style reality show will make it to television.
“I think that following farmers and their communities in their daily lives will help people realize what goes into their food,” said Andrew Sorenson aboutThe Farm,a reality show that will showcase life on Canadian farms. “It’s not just a dollar ninety-nine and the supermarket. It’s people’s blood, sweat and tears.”
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The idea is to follow the daily lives of seven different farming operations across Canada from a small organic British Columbia farm, to a southern Alberta cattle ranch, to a large Saskatchewan grain farm to an Ontario dairy operation.
Sorenson, a 24-year old filmmaker, grew up on a dairy farm in central Alberta. It was there that he started using his grandmother’s movie camera and developed a passion for filmmaking.
“The farming thing has always stuck with me. It’s something I know, it’s something I grew up with,” he said. “And they say write what you know.”
While he was attending the Vancouver Film School, he met Chris Langford and the two of them started their own independent production company, Inverse Cinematics. They have produced small-scale short films, butThe Farmis their most ambitious project to date.
“Reality TV is huge and yet I think a large part of reality TV is really cheap and meaningless, whereas this is real,” said Sorenson. “This is Canada. Farming is where we came from.”
Sorenson said part of the appeal for networks is the low production costs. He said they will only need small crews and limited camera work at each farm, so it will be relatively easy to make.
The show plans to capture the drama involved from seeding to harvest, calving to sale day and everything in between.
“It is job with high stress, with a lot on the line. It’s personal drama too. It’s not just business. If you have bad weather or equipment break down right when it’s perfect harvest season, that’s intense, that’s stressful and that’s what makes it interesting to watch,” he said.
“Personally I don’t think we have to make it more interesting, I just think we have to inform people that it is interesting.
“But it’s the drama that happens while they are just farming. It’s not just about them putting seeds in the ground. It’s about their lives.”
The filmmakers also hope the show will help narrow the divide between rural and urban, and shine a light on the day to day operations of food production. Aside from it serving as entertainment, it will educate consumers who have increasingly become detached from farms and their food sources.
“Farmers have been a little jaded by how they are perceived as people who just whine all the time, but that’s just because people don’t know what they actually do,” said Sorenson. “I think if they get to show what they do, I think both sides will grow an appreciation for each other.”
Inverse Cinematics is hoping to pitch the show this winter to networks, including Discovery Canada, Outdoor Life Network, History and the CBC. The filmmakers hope to work with co-production companies to help with the day-to-day production of the show, but first they have to find more farmers who would be willing participate.
“It will help if there is some interest from the farming community. The more we get people talking about it, the more the networks will be interested.”
For more information, visit inversecinematics. com.
