raywarevs

No-see-ums are the annoying tiny biting insects that were coined this localized nickname in Florida. Noseeums is a horror movie incorporating racial oppression and African spiritual memory directed by Raven Carter. Funny enough, the tiny insects are the driving focus of horror in this film. Carter positions them in a supernatural sphere, moving as a figure for the oppressive past faced by the main character, Ember’s, ancestral history. Read through African spiritualism, the film mainly discusses the timelessness of trauma and collective memory. It displays this through Ember and her dreams of the original plot owners of the lake house she’s visiting with her white friends. The exploration of sisterhood is both feminized and racialized, as there is a lot of significance in ‘reclamation of identity.’ The film was absolutely compelling in this aspect, as there were a lot of times the audience gets pulled into the nightmare-ish reality of Aleigha Burt’s character as she realizes the true horror that has been haunting her all her life. With the title alone, this film proves to be layered with historical, familial, communal, and spiritual significance as it connects all of these with materialism. It’s a struggle of autonomy and the ability to recognize the past as a foundation for the present. It disrupts the thematic assumptions placed on African spiritualism as well as tackling the consequences of microaggressions. It’s definitely a treat to watch during the Halloween season with friends, especially for fans of Jordan Peele as it has that contemporary reflective storytelling that has the viewer sitting in silence after watching.

Joshua and Rebecca Tickell’s Groundswell pushes the audience to really think about what lies under their feet. The film continues to hone its focus on regenerative agriculture, much like the former movies in Tickells’ documentary project, however it offers a much more resolutive response. It places a firm connection on how soil health is reflective of climate change, food security, water conditions, and human health. It tackles all sorts of crises in these areas, while still maintaining a fluidity that keeps the audience engaged. There is a real passion behind the making of this film, as the crew personally traveled across countries, from Africa to South America. There was active documentation on the progress received from following regenerative practices, which circled back to the hands of the farmers. There was so much emphasis on the power that farmers hold when dictating the use of their farms. A prime example of this is Will Harris, owner of White Oak Pastures. He admits to using industrial agriculture for most of his time on the farm, till he opened his eyes to the ethical stance of grazing. Once he began grazing multi-species, he simultaneously ended his relationship with mono-cropping and fully integrated a polycultural production system. He is one of many farmers featured in this film who display such humility and integrity when discussing what these farms mean to them and their communities. The use of Groundswell, not just as a film, but as a conference to uphold their message is such an uplifting perspective that really solidifies the intensity of optimism while watching.

Four simple steps. That’s all it takes for farmers to produce crops through the regenerative process. No chemicals, no tillage, cover crops, and planned grazing. Common Ground, directed by Joshua and Rebecca Tickell, is an empowering film on environmental activism. The prequel, Kiss the Ground, emphasizes how regenerative agriculture helps the planet, and in turn humanity. Common Ground follows the sentiment toward how humanity can help increase regenerative agriculture to help the planet. It maintains this cyclical beneficiary throughout, paired with beautiful imagery and emotional anecdotes. It touches on mental health and the suicide rate in the farming community as a response to the toxic government crop subsidizations and farmers’ debt accumulation as a result. Victims such as Dewayne “Lee” Johnson are given a platform to expose and navigate their experiences with big farming companies, and their contribution to the destruction of the farming community. These compelling stories are narrated by the well-loved Jason Momoa, and returning voice, Woody Harrelson. They direct the audience toward an informative journey of carbon sequestration, and how the methodology of pulling carbon dioxide from the air will boost the earth’s ecosystems. The information is easy to digest, which can’t always be said about the food on our plates. That’s what this film is here for.

Two words: solution focused. This documentary, directed by Joshua and Rebecca Tickell, introduces a new hopeful perspective on the scary conversation of the environment and climate change. It begins at the bottom rather than the top, with soil. The common message seeping throughout the documentary focuses on health, how the health of the planet will lead to the health of the human body. It introduces a fresh take on environmental activism media and strays away from the ‘world is ending’ vibe that usually keeps viewers away from this genre of film. Unfortunately, there is not a large emphasis toward the man-made failures that led the earth to this condition, but it is explained through the explicit effort of moving forward instead of dwelling on the past. To emphasize this, it introduces the restoration of land through “regenerative farming,” a practice used by a minority of farmers to better their agricultural quality and gain more profit. There is not a limitation of education and can be used as an imperative tool in classrooms to help younger generations strive to be more attentive in their awareness of the environment.