Ruth Reichl documentary ‘Food And Country’ acquired by Greenwich Ent.

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American rights to the documentary. Food and Countrycollaboration between acclaimed bestselling author Ruth Reichl and award-winning director Laura Gabbert. Watch the exclusive trailer below.

The film, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, will begin its theatrical run on October 2 at the IFC Center in New York. Reichl, a chef and food critic whose books include Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of the Critic in Disguise AND Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Tableproduced the documentary with Gabbert, Caroline Libresco, Paula Perez Manzanedo and Lisa Remington. Gabbert directed, among others, City of Goldabout the late food writer Jonathan Gold and Ottolenghi and the Versailles cakes about chef-restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi.

“During the pandemic, Reichl became concerned about the plight of small farmers, ranchers, and chefs who were grappling with the immediate and systemic challenges of a broken food system,” the film’s description notes. “Crossing geographic and cultural divides, she follows the unfolding stories of cattle ranchers in Kansas and Georgia, farmers in Nebraska, Ohio, and the Bronx, a New England fisherman, and independent chefs in big cities, all struggling in different ways to survive in an ever-consolidating food industry subsidized by long-standing government policies. As Reichl witnesses how they navigate these difficult circumstances, she shares fragments of her own life, and in doing so, she begins to take stock of the journey she has traveled and the youthful ideals she fears she has left behind. As each character’s story comes into focus, it becomes clear that the way we produce and grow our food tells us who we are as a country.”

Greenwich Co-Chair Edward Arentz said in a statement:Food and Country “is a moving, hopeful documentary journey about food, integrity and community, with a cast full of inspiring innovators who are passionate about what they do, not least of whom are the filmmakers themselves.”

“We are delighted to be working with Greenwich Entertainment to deliver Food and Country for the public,” Gabbert said. “In this charged moment, he encourages us to understand and appreciate the independent food producers across America who are not only connecting urban and rural areas, but also providing solutions to our broken food system.”

The U.S. system is broken, Gabbert and Reichl say, for a number of reasons. “We don’t grow a lot of food. We grow mostly commodities. So we’re not a country that could feed itself in a real crisis,” Reichl told Deadline at the Sundance Film Festival. “It’s broken because the way we produce food is destroying the land, it’s destroying the air, it’s a brutal system that’s destroying people. It’s destroyed rural America. And, most importantly, it’s destroying our health. Six in 10 Americans suffer from chronic disease related to food. It all comes down to the way we produce food.”

Among the participants in the film is Bren Smith, who went from being a fisherman to an “ocean farmer.”

“He was a commercial fisherman for years,” Gabbert told Deadline at Sundance. “He fished all over the world, and I think he realized how extractive the process was. And he discovered algae farming. As he says, ‘They don’t float away. They’re easy to farm.’”

Smith writes on Greenwave.org: “After the cod population in my home of Newfoundland plummeted, I was faced with the reality that there would be no jobs on a dead planet. So I embarked on a journey of ecological redemption. I made many mistakes along the way, but I ended up in Long Island Sound, growing a mix of seaweed and shellfish. These crops hit the sweet spot in the climate, requiring no fresh water, fertilizer, or feed—sequestering carbon, restoring reefs, and creating economic opportunities for coastal communities hard-hit by climate change.”

Innovators like Smith create Food and Country ultimately optimistic film. “I think that’s one of the reasons we decided to focus on (food) producers,” Reichl said, “because the people whose stories we ended up telling, during Covid, all found a way to change the system for themselves. And so they’re all stories of hope.”

In addition to Sundance, Food and Country has screened at SXSW, Hot Docs, the Cleveland International Film Festival, and the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, as well as other festivals in the U.S. and abroad.

Food and Country was created in partnership with Foothill Productions and Real Lava. The documentary is directed by Laura Gabbert and produced by Ruth Reichl, Laura Gabbert, Caroline Libresco, Paula Perez Manzanedo and Lisa Remington. Impact and community engagement are led by Michael Bracy, Policy in Focus and Jon Reiss, 8 Above.

Los Angeles-based Range Select handled worldwide sales, and Ed Arentz of Greenwich negotiated the acquisition with Jessica Lacy and Oliver Wheeler of Range on behalf of the filmmakers.

Watch Food and Country Trailer below.