The Food for Thought monthly film series showed the documentary “The True Cost” Wednesday at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, diving into who really pays the price for clothing.
Sponsored by the Moscow Food Co-op, the University of Idaho Sustainability Center, the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre and Altered Ego, the series will be held through April, and also September through November with occasional additional screenings.
According to the Moscow Food Co-op website, the film is described as “an unprecedented project that invites us on an eye-opening journey around the world and into the lives of the many people and places behind our clothes.”
Each film has around 60-80 people in attendance, as the UI Sustainability Center targets advertising toward student body participation and the co-op gains community involvement.
Moscow Food Co-op Education and Events Coordinator Max Newland said the purpose behind the film series is to inform the public on topics that support the co-op’s mission.
Their mission statement is to “nourish and nurture our community,” by not only providing access to healthy foods and a variety of events, but also using profit to support local organizations that benefit the community.
“Originally established in 2012, the Food for Thought Series is an educational way for audience members to understand the general economy of the co-operative model,” Newland said. “One important aspect of co-ops in general is their obligation to educate and it is our desire to find sustainable and interesting ways to do that.”
Most of the co-op’s profit is reinvested to integrate even further into the Moscow community, Newland said. The film series is a great way to capture the hearts and minds of students and community members alike, he said.
A volunteer committee holds monthly meetings to choose what documentaries will be shown, and there is no formal decision-making process other than collaboration.
The committee also decides if a relevant and available public speaker or panel may be available to present any background information to the films. All of the films range in tone, but their overall premise is framed around how to fix what is wrong in the world.
“The educational aspect of what the co-op does promotes that even if a community can’t be entirely changed, at least individuals can feel better equipped to live a better life,” Newland said. “I believe the co-operative model has potential to change what problems exist within the political and economic climate of the U.S.”
“The True Cost” documentary focused prominently on the economic climates of impoverished countries compared to more developed countries like the United States.
According to the documentary, nearly 90 percent of textile factory workers are women making less than $2 a day in places like Bangladesh, India and Cambodia. Their governments often use physical force if unions or riots are formed by the women, because the industry will always need workers, making the jobs essential for their economy.
The end of the film focused on problems with consumption, arguing that money, image and social status don’t equal happiness. In order to change anything about the system now, people must reevaluate the importance of a materialistic culture and the negative cost-benefit analysis.
A Moscow community member for over 40 years, Ellen Thiem has attended nearly all of the films shown in the Food for Thought series.
Thiem said that people today, specifically in America, are so far removed from the harsh reality of the clothing processes that is it just second nature to run to the mall to grab something.
“The film was striking in the way it reinforced American consumer culture and it is troubling how main industries and corporations are willing to buy out and contract cheap labor to make the most profit for themselves,” Thiem said.
Thiem said that most of the films shown cover political and economic material, but this film (“The True Cost”) was culturally different from others she has seen. Raised in a family that made all of their own clothes, the ability to sew was part of Thiem’s junior high school curriculum and made her able to resonate with the hard work of the women in the film.
The film left the audience to think about the connections between greed and fear, power and poverty and the millions of connected hands involved in production and consumption of clothes.
Allison Spain can be reached at [email protected]