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Earth to Mouth

2002 41 min
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Filmed at the Wing Fong Farm in Ontario, this documentary follows the tilling, planting and harvesting of Asian vegetables destined for Chinese markets and restaurants. On 80 acres of land, Lau King-Fai, her son and a half-dozen migrant Mexican workers care for the plants. For Yeung Kwan, her son, the farm represents personal and financial independence. For his mother, it is an oasis of peace. For the Mexican workers, it provides jobs that help support their children back home.

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Earth to Mouth

Details

Filmed at the Wing Fong Farm in Ontario, this documentary follows the tilling, planting and harvesting of Asian vegetables destined for Chinese markets and restaurants. On 80 acres of land, Lau King-Fai, her son and a half-dozen migrant Mexican workers care for the plants. For Yeung Kwan, her son, the farm represents personal and financial independence. For his mother, it is an oasis of peace. For the Mexican workers, it provides jobs that help support their children back home.

  • director
    Yung Chang
  • picture editor
    Hannele Halm
  • cinematographer
    François Vincelette
  • sound recordist
    Alain Tremblay
  • sound editor
    Don Ayer
  • original music
    Chris Crilly
  • musician
    Jon Gearey
    Timothy Bruce Halliday
    Dave Gossage
    Chris Crilly
  • on-line technician
    Sylvain Desbiens
    Denis Pilon
  • re-recording
    Serge Boivin
  • production co-ordinator
    Alice Ngan
  • title design
    Gaspard Gaudreau
  • translation
    Alice Ngan
    Michael Lai
    Margaret Wong
    Monica Chiu
    Maria Jim
    Ernesto Cuba Lopez
  • digital editing technician
    Chaz Oliver
  • post-production coordinator
    Claude Cardinal
  • production clerk
    Sia Koukoulas
  • program administrator
    Marie Tonto-Donati
    Nickie Merulla
  • producer
    Germaine Ying Gee Wong
  • executive producer
    Sally Bochner

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Education

Ages 15 to 17
School subjects
Discuss film’s artistic values in music and photography. Discuss the ways the mother sustains her identity, including social life, behaviour, attitudes. Students write essays describing the ways they reinforce their own identities. Discuss how farm experience affects migrant Mexicans. What is status of international migrant workers in Canada? Does film romanticize life on the farm? Students write essay on any aspects of this situation that they would treat differently if they remade film.
Earth to Mouth
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Home licence (worldwide); Classroom licence (Canada only)

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Institutional licence

The institutional price includes the rights to screen this film in institutional settings and in free public screenings.