Take part in the 2026 Food Justice Film Festival

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Issue 64 | October 2026

Six bowls full of different colored corn seed on a table with the words Food X overlaid on top

In this month’s Food X, the Center’s Linda Rico shares details about our upcoming free virtual Food Justice Film Festival and explains why keeping the attention on food justice is key to a more sustainable food system.

From Linda:

This is our seventh annual online Food Justice Film Festival highlighting the people and stories behind the food we eat.

The health and safety of our food continue to see unprecedented attacks these days — in the United States, we’ve witnessed regular food recalls and weakened regulations letting contaminated foods into stores and homes; violent attacks on foodworkers and agricultural workers of color under the guise of anti-immigration efforts; and surging food costs many people can barely afford.

When we talk about food justice, we’re talking about all this:

The right to healthy food, clean air and water, and safe jobs with fair wages and worker protections.
Reclaiming power within the food system to shift away from industrial animal production to a system that’s more equitable, sustainable, and humane.
Access to culturally appropriate food that’s produced sustainably and based on diverse, regional, and traditional Indigenous knowledge and practices.

The film festival gives filmmakers, activists, organizers, and food- and farmworkers a platform. It showcases the critical work they do while continuing to keep our food system running and fighting for more sustainable practices overall.

This year's festival features four films highlighting the links between Indigenous seed sharing, food sovereignty, cultural heritage, and the importance of phasing out pesticides and shifting toward agroecological farming. Check out our lineup below and make sure to catch our recorded interviews with participants, available online the week before the festival.

You can watch the 2026 Food Justice Film Festival films for free from Oct. 22 to Oct. 25.

Films

Seeds of Sovereignty

With a story told through the eyes of Native Mexican milpa farmers practicing centuries-old Indigenous farming techniques, local activists fighting for food sovereignty, and those who work and organize to keep Mexico’s cultural heritage thriving, we see Mexico’s fight to protect its corn seed, biodiversity, traditional agriculture, and environmental health from the U.S. push to make the country use GMO-treated seeds and industrial farming practices. Directed by Stuart Tanner.

Seeding Change: Farming Beyond Neonics

This film chronicles the challenges, successes, and ongoing work of local farmers and researchers from Quebec farms to Cornell University field trials as they navigate the transition of managing crop pests without neonicotinoid-treated seeds — seeds coated in powerful nerve-agent pesticides so that, when they become plants, they’re toxic to insects from root to tip. Seeding Change goes on to explore what a future without insecticide-treated seeds would look like in the northeastern United States. Directed by Ben Willis.

Toxic Harvest: The Hidden Truth About Pesticides

Toxic Harvest follows experts and smallholder farmers on the front lines of devastating agricultural pesticide exposure in South Africa and their courageous fight against an unjust system. It spotlights the need for urgent action to shift away from harmful toxins and toward agroecological farming. Directed by Andréa Gema.

Seed Is Life

This film covers how communities in South Africa and Zimbabwe are fighting to protect their cultural heritage and reclaim the rights to their native seeds against corporations trying to criminalize seed saving and sharing between local farmers. Directed by Deidre May.

Sign up to watch the 2026 Food Justice Film Festival:

Need help? Here are detailed instructions on how to sign up and watch.

After you’re signed up: