Review by Meghan Mast
For two years, North America was a giant table to Craig Noble. Inspired by his sister and brother in law’s food and wine project and looking for a break from the city, Noble set off to film Tableland, a documentary about food producers across Canada and the United States.

Eating his way through fields and farms, Noble focused on filming local farmers who participate in alternative farming methods, particularly the movement towards a more local and sustainable food system.
Tableland presents the argument for localized eating in a refreshingly visual way through colorful images of the process and results of sustainable farming production.
Along with a visible passion for good food, the people Noble interviews also possess a bit of quirk. Take for example “The Oysterman” on Marina Island who wears a pom-pom toque and is seen slurping up his shelled beauties in nearly every shot.
Equally interesting is the seed-saver, author and farmer on Salt Spring Island and the feisty French Canadian restaurant owner of Toque! in Montreal.
Each of the interviewed individuals has a unique approach, but all share the common goal of producing good food. This means bypassing the short-cuts of heavy pesticides and many other conventional agriculture tools.
Producing good, real food is tough work, and as Noble ventures into chicken coups, apiaries, microbreweries and vineyards, he comes to understand first-hand how much work is required to produce a quality product.
During his two years of traveling, filming and helping out whenever possible, Noble began to think of himself as a “professional squatter,” a self-proclaimed “well fed nomad.” Fortunately, his squatting served him well when Tableland won best feature at the New York Food Film Festival 2008.
What is so mesmerizing about Tableland is the raw honesty of seeing real people produce food. Plus the food looks so dang good. Tantalizing images of fresh, colorful food will leave viewers salivating and with a vivid understanding of why sustainable production of real food matters.

Tableland is currently independently produced and distributed, and can be purchased by emailing Craig Noble at cnoble@p1-productions.com
For more information about the film, visit the pixel one productions website at http://www.p1-productions.com/tableland.html

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 11:29 pm and is filed under Movie Reviews, What's Happening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.