Eva Longoria and Forest Whitaker are passionate about farmworkers’ rights, and that passion is coming to Gainesville.
The Hippodrome State Theatre will premiere a one-time screening of the documentary “Food Chains” days before its national release. The documentary was executively produced by Longoria and is narrated by Whitaker.
Gainesville’s Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice, Chispas UF and the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program will come together to host the screening Tuesday at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $10.
“It’s a story really about hope and triumph,” said Smriti Keshari, the producer of the documentary. “(It shows) that if everyone works together, we can create a system that’s just and fair and not one that relies on exploitation so that one party can succeed.”
“Food Chains” is part of the Hippodrome’s current documentary series, Cinema Lounge, and also falls into the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) week.
Chispas UF created CIW week to raise awareness for the farmworkers’ rights in the tomato industry from Immokalee, Florida, said Crismerly Santibanez, a 21-year-old executive board member of the organization.
“Food Chains” shows the true stories of farmworkers who work to defeat the $4 trillion supermarket industry, said Sheila Payne, a member of Gainesville’s Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It exposes the abuse they go through in order to get food in supermarkets. She said the movie focuses on CIW, which has been the state’s most successful food-grower group.
“Eva (Longoria) said it very simply,” Keshari said. “‘People should care because we all eat.’”
Because Gainesville and Alachua County have been the homes of many protests to bring attention to labor issues, the director of the film, Sanjay Rawal, called Sheila Payne and asked if she would like the movie to premiere in Gainesville. Payne said she was thrilled.
Payne has worked for years in Gainesville, protesting major corporations like Publix for the acceptance of the Fair Food label. She has held hunger strikes at Publix headquarters, but in the past five years of protesting, the company has refused to meet with workers.
Alisha Kinman, the Hippodrome’s cinema director, said “Food Chains,” like other movies in the theater’s documentary series, will stir conversations. She said after students’ heartstrings are pulled by the movie, there will be a discussion with two members from CIW, who will answer questions.
“Come with an open mind (and be) prepared to learn a lot,” Kinman said.
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 11/13/2014]
