Rhizome DC and TPSS Co-op present:

The Co-op Film Festival

Join us for three consecutive Mondays in July to view films focused on the food co-op movement. 7pm screenings.

July 15: Food For Change: A Documentary Film About Food Co-ops

July 22: The Co-op Wars

July 29: Can We Do It Ourselves?

Donations for the use of the space are appreciated. However, no donation is required to submit an RSVP - you can enter $0 when prompted.

FOOD FOR CHANGE is an 82-minute documentary film focusing on food co-ops as a force for dynamic social and economic change in American culture. This is the first film to examine the important historical role played by food co-ops, their pioneering quest for organic foods, and their current efforts to create regional food systems. Additionally, the film shows how cooperatives today strengthen local economies and build food security. The goal is to educate a wide audience about the principles of cooperation with a focus on healthy food and a healthy economy.

THE CO-OP WARS - In the 1970s, young people in Minnesota radicalized by the Vietnam War created a thriving counterculture economy featuring dozens of food cooperatives. But they had differing ideas about what the co-ops were for: Hippie socializing? Cheap bulk foods? Black liberation? Whole foods education? Anarchist experimentation? Marxist revolution? In the midst of this burgeoning movement a charismatic stranger formed a secretive revolutionary group that was willing to seize the co-ops by force to bring about their vision of social transformation. The ensuing struggle pitted friends and comrades against each other in a passionate clash of ideas about equity, inclusion, health, and democracy. Long after natural foods have become mainstream, this debate over who and what the co-ops are for finds echoes in the struggle for food justice today. THE CO-OP WARS captures a pivotal moment in the history of Baby Boomer politics and demonstrates the unique nature of cooperatives as vessels for community-directed social change. It is a documentary sure to be thought-provoking for co-op members and everyone interested in creating a better world.

CAN WE DO IT OURSELVES is a solid, thought provoking documentary covering a relevant economic topic in-depth. The question of capitalism’s grip on the modern world is highly relevant today and the film questions if we should be pushing for a democratic cooperative way of doing business, showing case studies of businesses who are surviving as democracies within a capitalist system.