Become a Member

to watch this film, and all films, for just $6.99 / month.   Otherwise you may purchase a

ONE MAN, ONE COW, ONE PLANET

56 minutes | Family | 2007 | New Zealand

Documentaries

Please log in or sign up to leave comments.
  • bob 2 years, 4 months ago
    I like this guy. Traditional Kiwi: straightforward, enthusiastic, no messing about.
Tagline

The biodynamic and organic revolution in India maybe the blueprint to save the world.

Synopsis

'The outcome of the battle for agricultural control in India may just dictate the future of the earth.'

Peter Proctor is 78. He has a glass eye and is partially deaf. He can’t stomach hot, spicy food, sings opera obsessively and has left the comforts of life in suburban New Zealand to live and work in India. He is also quietly determined to save the world.

Peter is New Zealand’s father of modern biodynamic farming, an arcane and extreme form of agriculture. Detractors have been known to call it ‘a new age scam.’

But across India thousands of subsistence farmers disagree. Biodynamic agriculture is changing the landscape, releasing entire communities from the debt cycles and destroyed soils of chemical farming and the bio colonialism of multinational corporations.

One Man, One Cow, One Planet explores the hidden battle of marginal farmers to own seeds, to grow diverse crops, to feed themselves and their communities.

This film reveals how precarious our existence on this planet is, how flawed the mantra of unlimited growth in a finite world and the reality of what happens to people when we treat them as means of production.

One Man, One Cow, One Planet puts the self-sufficient village, free of external market forces, at the centre of the universe and reveals that when multinational corporations dictate what farmers must grow they are controlling what all of us eat.

Director's Statement

ONE MAN, ONE COW, ONE PLANET is both expose of the dire effects of globalization and bio-colonalism and a celebration of the amazing success of marginal farmers across India as they save their soils, their communities and their lives with organic and biodynamic farming.

A celebration of the amazing success of marginal farmers across India: as they save their soils, their communities and their lives with organic and biodynamic farming.

ONE MAN, ONE COW, ONE PLANET was a joy and a privilege to make.

Directed by: Thomas Burstyn
Written by: B Sumner Burstyn
Produced by: B Sumner Burstyn

Cast

Main subject: Peter Proctor

Crew

Cinematographer: Thomas Burstyn
Music: MercanDede
Editor: Robert Pennington

Official Selection x13 festivals, including Best Non-broadcast Film, Jackson Hole Film Festival, 2007, Katherine Knight award, EarthVision International Environmental Festival, Award of Excellence, The Accolades 2008, and official selection in 10 others

  • Thomas Burstyn

    Director

    Thomas Burstyn