Green Gathering on Film

Green Gathering is a festival with a focus on environmental and social justice, based in Chepstow, with the first big festival happening in 1994. It features art, live music, film, spoken word and workshops on topics from permaculture to ecology. 

At this year’s festival there was something else on the schedule as YFA and NEFA showcased a number of Nature Matters films. Most notably we showed a film that spoke to the history of the Green Gathering Festival movement: Home Grown.

Home Grown is a film made in 1999 which documents that year’s Northern Green Gathering Festival. It took place in the fields of Brickyard Farm, Ackworth, West Yorkshire, and tells the story of an organic farmer, John Brook, who forms an unusual attachment with eco-activists. It gives an insight into the early days of the Green Gathering Festival movement and how it brings together different voices to highlight the importance of environmental thinking and action.

The film went down really well during the screening, and offered a point of reflection with a lot of chat from the audience about similarities and changes between the festival in 1999 and the one they were at now. 

Alongside Home Grown, we also screened a Nature Matters short film and Cost of Living.

Watch the full Home Grown Film and find out more about it here.