DOWNTOWN Some stories were just meant to be told.
In the case of the South Central Farm, it was the 350 families that depended on the 14-acre plot to help sustain themselves that moved many to throw themselves into the fray to save it from being redeveloped.
One such individual was Sheila A. Laffey, a Santa Monica College professor and documentary filmmaker, who upon hearing the clamor, was forced into action. Having chronicled and championed environmental issues in the past on film, she realized that there was something she had to offer to help further the cause of the ill-fated patch of land in South Los Angeles that will eventually be transformed from a patch of agrarian heaven into a commercial development.
“I wear two hats. One as an ardent conservationist and one as a documentary filmmak-er,”Laffey said.“My major initial goal in making the film was to try to help save the farm, hoping that potential funders for the property might see the film and be moved to action.”
Her film, “South Central Farm: Oasis in a Concrete Desert,” tells the story of an ad-hoc group of activists that came together to fight what they believed to be a noble fight. Some were celebrities, some community activists — they were all united by an overriding belief that the farm must be saved at all costs.
The film, which has been broadcast on PBS as part of the “Natural Heroes” series, is part of the Fifth Annual Pacific Palisades Film Festival, which concludes today at the Theater Palisades in Pacific Palisades.
While most films of this ilk tend to be one-sided, Laffey thought that the story needed to be told through both sides involved in what would become a nationally televised event.
“The developer met with us for nearly two hours for a rare interview so his comments in the film provide a point of view not usually voiced in environmental films which often preach to the choir.”
“As a documentary filmmaker I wanted to tell the powerful story of the farmers and their connection with the land and any of the other side that we could get to try to understand how this thriving farm came to be and how it could be threatened,” she said.
“South Central Farm” was developed as a collaboration between Laffey, Jeff Forster and Geoff Pepos. She served as director, coproducer, co-executive producer and camera person. Pepos co-produced the film and edited the final cut. While both saw the situation as an opportunity make an interesting film, it was the actual issue at hand that was the primary reason for getting involved.
“When I first heard of the project, my initial reaction was probably not that much different than most Angelenos,” Pepos said. “While on the surface, sure, one could say that it’s about the farmer against the developer or the other way around and leave it at that. But, the issues we raise in the film have a wider impact as well.”
The film’s inclusion in the festival that showcases independent filmmakers was somewhat of a fluke. The film was part of the recent American Film Institute’s recent festival and caught the eye of Bob Sharka, who runs the Pacific Palisades Film Festival.
“Bob saw the film at AFI and asked me if he could show it. He had showed one or two of my [previous] films in the past and knew my work,” she said. “He’s all over the place. He sees what good films are out there and tries to include them in his festival.”
The film,which wrapped production in July of 2007, is currently available on DVD. Laffey secured a distributor and is currently receiving requests from a number of educators that would like to show the work to their students.
Laffey secured funding for the short film by way of grants and donations from various sources, but she hopes to take the idea and expand on it in the future.
“Since this documentary is a short we had to leave fascinating footage on the cutting room floor,” she said. “We are currently fundraising to do a longer (film) on the controversy and the importance of urban farms.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 8, 2008. Read the original PDF.