Home / Titles / Growing Season, A
Print Page

Growing Season, A


DVD PPR Price: $250
DVD Site Price: $95
DVD Home Price: $59.95



» Request Preview Access
Subjects: Agriculture, Business Studies, Finance, Food Supply

Grade Level: JrH-Adult
Producer: W.E. Productions
Closed Captioned: No		 Running Time: 27 mins
Country of Origin: Canada
Study Guide: No
Copyright Date: 2007
Available in French: No

A Growing Season follows vegetable farmer John Gorzo Jr. and his family over eight months on his farm in the Holland Marsh, located north of Toronto.

This growing season gets off to a cold, wet start in April, which means the planting season is delayed. By late May things are looking up. He has crops in the ground and some of his acreage has plants well on their way. But it’s already getting dry and John is forced to get out the irrigation to keep things moist.

By July, the temperature is getting hotter and irrigation day and night has become crucial to keep the crops alive. By early August, the entire Gorzo operation is into full harvest mode. A number of crops are being harvested daily for delivery to markets in Toronto and beyond. In early September, John is beginning to harvest his onion crop.

Things continue to be tight money wise and he wonders how things are gong to end up this season. A few week later he continues to struggle to get the crop off as the colder fall weather begins in early November. The family has only managed to cover their bills this year after selling some land John had purchased years earlier. 

As the documentary concludes, John admits that he’ll likely need to get a job because he’s made so little over the past year. A growing season is over but it looks as though John is unsure if he wants to endure another.

“Most grade 8 students go about their day unconcerned with the decisions they make and how they affect those around them. A Growing Season is a film that teaches the student connections beyond themselves. This documentary works seamlessly with our Global Citizens Unit illustrating the struggles of the modern day family farm. Gorzo's knowledge and reflections help to reinforce the unit's concept that the student does not operate as an individual but as a member of a complex network in a global world.”
- Tracey McColl, Intermediate Teacher (Grade 8 English), Burlington Central High School, Ontario.

“This intimate, pull-no-punches story strips away our bucolic fantasies and reveals how incredibly hard farmers work to produce the food we eat… Bravo!”  
 - Laurie Walters, Ironweed Films
     
“John Gorzo Jr. is a sincere gem, which made A Growing Season as genuine, understated, humble and wonderfully Canadian as any film production I’ve ever seen.”  
- Marshall Ward, The Waterloo Chronicle

Awards:
Jury Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2009 Local Focus Film Festival
 
Screened at:
  • Food and Farming Film Festival, Berkeley, California - Spring, 2010            
  • Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario - January 10th, 2010
  • Sustainable Film Series, Ellensburg, Washington - August 21st, 2009          
  • Eat Here Now, Denver, Colorado - May 1st – May 30th, 2009          
  • Open Prairie Screening, Princeton, Illinois - April 19th,
  • Living Earth Festival, Kitchener, Kitchener, Ontario - April 23, 2009        
  • Local Focus Film Festival, Kitchener, Ontario - March 16th-21, 2009        
  • The Grimsby Public Art Gallery, Grimsby, Ontario - February 6th-March 22nd, 2009
  • Kitchener Public Library, Kitchener, Ontario - September 27th, 2008 


Links: www.docspace.ca/film/A_Growing_Season

Holland Marsh Growers Association   
www.hollandmarshgold.com

Ontario’s Greenbelt  
www.greenbelt.ca
www.freshvegetablesontario.com

Ontario Fruit and Vegetables Growers Association  
www.ofvga.org

Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury  
www.town.bradfordwestgwillimbury.on.ca

Gremolata – Article featuring interview with John Gorzo Jr.  
www.gremolata.com/Articles/264-Holland-Marsh-Farms.aspx

Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library  
www.bradford.library.on.ca


Related Titles Clip Producer
GROW! Video Project
King Corn Bullfrog Films
Dirt! The Movie Bullfrog Films

GROW!

With the average age of farmers in the U.S. currently at 57,...

King Corn

KING CORN is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of...

Dirt! The Movie

The story of Earth's most valuable and underappreciated source of...