Do we value community spaces? How do community gardens and farmers markets impact our families and neighborhoods? What can and should be done to protect these spaces for the common good?

In a two-part film series, Gardening Matters and the Midtown Farmers' Market will explore these questions with a focus on how to recognize, discuss, and rally support around our treasured community spaces.

The Garden: Wednesday, September 9th. In 1992, neighbors working together to grow food, feed families, build community, and repair blight established The Garden, a 14-acre community garden in a Los Angeles neighborhood. It became the largest community garden in the United States. But behind closed doors at City Hall, The Garden was sold to a developer for less than fair-market value. The Garden, an Oscar-nominated documentary by Scott Hamilton Kennedy, follows a group of urban farmers, mostly immigrants from Latin America, as they organize, fight back, and demand answers. View the trailer and learn more.

Food Fight: Wednesday, September 16th. When we walk into a supermarket, we encounter the widest selection of wholesome foods available. Right? Food Fight shows how our food system has been co-opted by corporations whose interests aren’t always in providing our families with fresh, healthy, and sustainably-produced food. But there are alternatives: Chris Taylor’s film features those who have been taking our nation’s food production back into their own hands through innovative urban agriculture, schoolyard gardens, locally-provisioned restaurants, and community farmers markets. Filmmaker Chris Taylor will be on-hand for this Minneapolis premiere. View the trailer and learn more.

Both films screen at the Riverview Theater, 3800 42nd Ave S, at 7:00 p.m. with a discussion panel to follow. Tickets are $10 at the door with no advance sales. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.