After WWII, a Dutch farmer named Sicco Mansholt entered politics. Mansholt would go on to became a cabinet minister and European Commissioner for Agriculture; he is recognised as one of the founders of the European Union. A once strong advocate of large-scale farming practices, he ended up regretting this policy in his later years. On his deathbed he is reported to have read Virgil’s classic didactic poem Georgica (Georgics), which celebrates Roman-era agriculture, forestry, viticulture, cattle farming and apiculture; Mansholt drew profound lessons on the relationship between humanity and nature. Virgil’s work forms the starting point for the eponymous film, which reflects on the accomplishments of large-scale agriculture on the Flevo polder in the Netherlands. We watch crop, fruit and livestock farmers and beekeepers at work. Some read aloud passages from the poem and talk about the extent to which they can relate to the text. The camera glides over the polder’s well-ordered fields and straight roads, sometimes to the accompaniment of slow acoustic chords, or the narrator’s voice filling in some background information. Twice we hear the warning voice of Mansholt, and an elderly woman—a former farmer herself—shares her vivid recollections of him. A wide spectrum of farms passes the revue: from large to small scale family-owned farms and from a robot-operated goat dairy to a care farm. This array of post-modern farming affords us insight into the past and the future, and into the influence of international agricultural policy and the food industry.

Prize for best documentary Filmfestival "Der neue Heimatfilm", Freistadt 2015

Screenings:
competition International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 2014
Theater release LAB111, Amsterdam (15/1/15)
Ukraine: International Documentary Festival, Kiev, 2015
International Ecological Telefestival "To Save and Preserve", Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia 2015
NaturVision Film Festival, Ludwigsburg 2015
Filmfestival "Der neue Heimatfilm", Freistadt 2015
Milano Film Festival 2015
Filmfest Eberswalde 2015
MK2 (Quai de Loire) Paris, program Rendez-vous de Docs, 2015
Broadcasted: BOS/2DOC, Omroep Flevoland, RSI Switzerland

Script & director:
Katelijne Schrama
Director of photography:
Ben Geraerts
Drone shots
Cinerebels
Navid Tansaz
Tjeerd Fonk
Sound recordists:
Alex Booy
Pander Roskam
Editing:
Katelijne Schrama
Sound design:
Boon & Booy
Grading
Jef grosfeld / Loods
Music
Gert-Jan Blom 

Commissioning editor BOS:
Laetita Schoofs
Produced by:
Digna Sinke / SNG Film

This film is supported by:
Mediafonds

DVD: 15,00 Euro (please send a message to info@sngfilm.nl)

Links:
// Dirk van Weelden over Georgica
// Interview Cafe Weltschmerz
// Interview SEE NL
// http://www.sngfilm.nl
// trailer on Vimeo
// trailer on Youtube
// Recensie Groene Amsterdammer
// Interview Freies Radio Freistadt
// Interview Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
// Georgica a revelation at the Milano Film Festival
// https://www.facebook.com/GeorgicaDocumentary