New Rural Perspectives: The Borderlines Debate

New Rural Perspectives: The Borderlines Debate

Saturday 12 April 11:00am - 5.00pm
The Courtyard Hereford
Day Ticket £10


The rural idyll is a fundamental part of the British national identity and romantic tradition, but does it really exist? In this programme we will look at the reinvention of the countryside from the wartime onwards to the present day, when the custodians of the countryside are being removed from their traditional role, while as a nation we struggle to come to terms with where and how our food is produced.


11:00 - 12:00

Experts in the Field

Rhetoric and aesthetics in agricultural documentary. A talk by Mark Broughton from the Film and Television Studies Department at Reading University with screenings of two films from the Museum of English Rural Life, Ditching from the 1940s and Foot and Mouth from the 1950s.


1:00 - 3:00

The Lie of the Land

In her latest documentary, Molly Dineen, one of the UK's most prominent female directors, takes a long hard look at the harsh realities of life for the British livestock farmer today, under pressure from falling prices and curtailing legislation. After the screening, there will be a debate with the film-maker Molly Dineen, Graham Harvey (agricultural story editor for The Archers and author of "We Want Real Food"), and a local livestock farmer.


3:30 - 5:00

Our Daily Bread (12A)

Without voiceover, interviews or expressing any obvious opinion this striking, occasionally shocking documentary shows just how industrial food processing and high-tech farming works. Strange sounds often unnerve, and the images take on a surreal quality that is at times funny, at times poetically captivating, but the objective style achieves what all great documentaries strive to do - it distils an uncomfortable, undeniable truth which will leave any audience with plenty to chew on.

After the screening Christine Hope (NFU Countryperson of the year 2004) from Longtown, John Davenport from Flights Orchard Organics at Ledbury and a representative from one of the supermarkets will debate the issues presented in the film.


Sponsored by the Rural Regeneration Zone

Rural Regeneration Zone logo

The Rural Regeneration Zone, a key Advantage West Midlands delivery mechanism, is the only one of its kind in England, based in an rural area. The RRZ covers nearly all Herefordshire, most of Shropshire and some of Worcestershire and is delivering, with partners, projects and programmes that are tackling many of the sub-regions economic challenges including an economic environment that attracts high-technology, the creation of knowledge-based jobs, and ensuring that the Zone's existing and future workforce is being helped to improve their skills.

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