For almost 15 years Vivian Sorenson was surrounded by some of the world’s best food as one of the original architects of the Food Network show “Chopped.” But, while her fellow producers were captivated by the chefs’ stories or their creative recipes, Sorenson always found herself yearning to dig even deeper into the meal.
“I was always the one saying, ‘Well, what about this ingredient? Where does it come from? Let’s make sure we’re sourcing it correctly,’” Sorenson told Variety at the inaugural Skyfire Environmental Film Festival. As the show platformed the chefs, she was interested in learning where the food comes from. “But in a format of television show, honestly, there’s only so much you can do.”
Sorenson gets her curiosity and her social consciousness honestly. “My grandparents were social justice organizers, and then my parents were both a conservationist and protectors of wilderness,” Sorenson said with a laugh. “I was taught from an early age: ‘Here’s the baton, go do something with your life.’”
With that in mind, Sorenson and her co-director Jonathan Nastasi set out on a eight-year journey to craft “Fork in the Road,” a documentary that takes audiences inside the growing movement to rethink our food system. The film, its logline explains, puts a spotlight on spotlighting the farmers, chefs and advocates working to “rebuild a healthier relationship between the land, the table and the communities they feed.”
Sorenson’s movie is populated with small-scale farmers and environmental activists, as well as one A-list agitator: Nick Offerman. (He couldn’t make the special screening because he was in Ireland shearing sheep and lambing.)
Working with the actor, author and humorist — whose filmography ranges from “Parks and Recreation” to “The Last of Us” — was special because he came to the project organically. Offerman is a massive fan of novelist, environmental activist and farmer Wendell Berry; Berry’s work inspired the film and his eponymous Berry Center supported the documentary financially.
Offerman appears throughout the film, reminiscing about growing up in the small-town farming community of Minooka, Ill. and voicing his concerns that that way of life is being threatened by industrialized farming. “He’s not the narrator of the movie; he’s another expert who has lived this,” Sorenson says.
Documentaries like this one and filmmakers like Sorenson were exactly what Mike McMahon and Dr. Joe Rosalle had in mind when they decided to launch the festival. The three-day event featured screenings of more than 100 documentary features, short films and student projects covering themes such as climate change, drought, wildlife conservation, agriculture, food systems, environmental justice, urban sustainability and Indigenous stewardship of land. The festival was held in multiple venues across Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe, Ariz., with “Fork in the Road” closing out the lineup on March 29.
“Fork in the Road” was also connected to another documentary. Mark Decena’s “Farming While Black” examines the historical plight of the Black farmer and screened the evening prior. Both documentaries feature Karen Washington, farmer and activist co-founder of the Black Farmer Fund.
The title for the doc, Sorenson explains, comes from the idea that we are at a fork in the road when it comes to industrialized farming and its wider implications on the world.
“We need to decide right now what we ware going to do,” she said. “Are we going to hang out over there with the large-scale capitalists while we all ruin our soil? Or are we going to, as they say in the movie, be a community? I like to say the party is here, come join us.”
Sorenson hopes the film inspires audiences to take action and to think about the health of our soil in particular. “Soils like our skin. We take care of our skin, Let’s take care of the soil,” she says. “We’ll all be better. Our health — the health of our planet, of our children, of ourselves — depends on it.”
For the full conversation, watch the video above.
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