TO WHICH WE BELONG with Pamela Tanner Boll

Friends of The Ross and The Norman A. Geske Cinema Showcase presents director and executive producer Pamela Tanner Boll, who will join the audience for a Q&A following the 7:30 p.m. screening of TO WHICH WE BELONG on Friday, April 8.

Also joining the Q&A will be Keith & Brian Berns, founders/owners of Green Cover Seed, a Nebraska-based cover seed producer featured in the documentary.

SYNOPSIS

TO WHICH WE BELONG is a documentary that highlights farmers and ranchers leaving behind conventional practices that are no longer profitable or sustainable. These unsung heroes are improving the health of our soil and sea to save their livelihoods — and our planet.

PAMELA TANNER BOLL, Director/Executive Producer

Pamela Tanner Boll is an artist, filmmaker, writer and activist. She is the Founder and CEO of Mystic Artists Film Productions. She is the Co-Executive Producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary, Born into Brothels. Pamela has executive produced the following film projects: Living in Emergency: True Stories of Doctors Without Borders; In a Dream; Connected: A Declaration of Interdependence; Our Summer in Tehran; Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields; Close to the Fire; She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry; E-Team; Teen Press; Obit; Navajo Nation; and Storm Lake.

Pamela directed and produced Who Does She Think She Is?, a feature-length documentary film that follows five women who are mothers and artists. Pamela also directed A Small Good Thing, a film that asks the question how can we live in a better way. Pamela grew up in Parkersburg, WV. She received a BA in English from Middlebury College and a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies from Lesley University. Pamela raised three sons in Winchester, Massachusetts and now lives in Boulder, Colorado. Website

KEITH & BRIAN BERNS

Keith Berns and his brother Brian have farmed their 2500+ acre Nebraska family farm all their lives. Raised as conventional farmers, they started no-tilling practices in the late 1980s and have been 100% no-till since 1999. With a grant from SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education), Keith and Brian began to do cover crop research and helped them to plant and really observe the cover crops and how they were affecting the soil on their farm. They found that adding cover crops greatly improved their land’s fertility as well as its ability to hold water. They were excited about the positive potential of using cover crops, but seed was really hard to find. Whenever they did find it, other farmers asked them to buy extra. So, in 2009 they decided to start a cover crop seed business, Green Cover Seed, in addition to their farming. Green Cover Seed has over 8,000 customers and is now one of the major cover crop seed providers and educators in the US, with customized offerings for different climates. Website