10 BILLION – WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE? GERMANY, 108 MIN., 2015

Directed: Valentin Thurn
In 2050, the population of the world is set to hit a staggering 10 billion. This is a huge increase on today’s figure of seven billion, and according to a range of experts and the food industry, it will contribute to serious food shortages. In his search for solutions to this acute problem, filmmaker, bestselling author and self-proclaimed «food fighter» Valentin Thurn
travels the world in search of ecologically and economically responsible alternatives to the mass means by which most of our food is currently produced. This includes a visit to a seed bank in India, where the local population claims that their own crop varieties are much more resistant to constant flooding than the genetically modified crops of multinationals such as Bayer and Monsanto. In Thailand, he visits an insect farm. He also looks at several private initiatives and urban farming projects in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Everyone he speaks to argues for small-scale agriculture and eating locally produced food as often as possible. According to Thurn, these are the only viable options in resolving the problems of the future.