2025 Food Film Showcase
Join us the last Tuesday of each month: January - April 2025!
Film Schedule, at the Horticulture Building:
January 28 – Kiss the Ground
This inspiring documentary reveals the regenerative power of soil and highlights the role of farming in combating climate change, with a focus on the potential of soil health to heal the planet.
Partner: Horticulture Department of Cabrillo College, Spring Class Registration DriveFebruary 25 – Farming While Black
A powerful exploration of the history and legacy of Black farmers in the U.S., this film dives into the intersection of race, land stewardship, and food sovereignty. Partner: Umoja Club of Cabrillo CollegeMarch 25 – Leading Change
Join us for a celebration of youth changemakers as the Watsonville Film Festival presents a series created by local emerging filmmakers to raise awareness and create opportunities for meaningful discussion about the use of pesticides in our community. Partner: Watsonville Film FestivalApril 29 – Gather
This documentary sheds light on the revitalization of Indigenous food systems and the role of food sovereignty in healing communities and restoring cultural connections. This finale screening will feature a take out dinner plate prepared by students in the Hort 160B class alongside and led by Chef Lonewolf of the Esselen Harvest Festival.
Partner: Chef Lonewolf
The Cabrillo College Horticulture Department is proud to announce the 2025 Food Film Showcase, a monthly film screening series that explores crucial themes of black equity, sustainability, Indigenous food sovereignty, permaculture, and community life. This exciting new initiative, created by Melissa Schilling of the Horticulture Department and Climate Justice Club, will run on the last Tuesday of each month, from January through April, and is brought to you by the HORT 160B Edible Landscaping Class in Spring 2025.
Each month, the Food Film Showcase will partner with a community group to create a richer, more diverse experience, including the Umoja Club, the Watsonville Film Festival, indigenous Chef Christina Lonewolf (Esselen, Big Sur Food Festival), and the Cabrillo College Horticulture Department.
Reserve FREE COMMUNITY tickets
Event Details:
Location: Cabrillo College, HORT 5005 Aptos, CA
Dates: Last Tuesday of each month, January 28 – April 29, 2025
Time: 5-7 PM
Admission: Free for students and open to the public
Join us the last Tuesday of the month for another incredible film. The Food Film Showcase will be hosted at Cabrillo College’s beautiful campus in Aptos and is open to all community members.
For more information on the Food Film Showcase and the HORT 160B Edible Landscaping Class, please contact instructor Melissa Schilling (meschill@cabrillo.edu)
Reserve* Chef Lonewolf’s tasting plate for the film finale: Gather
(April 29th)
*send $55 payment by April 15 to reserve your tasting plate
About the Showcase (Food Films)
The Food Film Showcase will be hosted at Cabrillo College’s beautiful campus in Aptos and is open to all community members. Each screening will be followed by a group discussion, offering a space for reflection, sharing of insights, and a deeper dive into the issues raised by the films.
Reserve Tickets
About the HORT 160B Edible Landscaping Class: The HORT 160B Edible Landscaping class at Cabrillo College is part of the college’s Environmental Horticulture program, which emphasizes sustainable design, food production, and ecological landscaping. The class is committed to fostering a deeper understanding of how community-centered, sustainable practices can transform local landscapes, promote food sovereignty, and support environmental justice. This course is taught by Melissa Schilling, a special education K-12 teacher recognized by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education for eco-literacy and environmental climate resilience.
About Umoja Student Life Club: Umoja, (a Kiswahili word meaning unity) Umoja Student Life Club will serve as a network for the African Diaspora, or "Black" students on the Cabrillo College campus, to enhance self-identity while respecting the diversity we have within the group and in the greater Cabrillo community. We will work as a support and networking group through collaborations with other organizations and connections with the Cabrillo faculty and staff. We strive to educate the Cabrillo community through culture and outreach programs in hopes to transcend our legacy for the future generations to come.
Student Chef, Kristofer Evans-Powell will offer Jerk Chicken Bowls $10
About the Watsonville Film Festival: The Watsonville Film Festival highlights Latin filmmakers and stories that illuminate our shared humanity and inspire positive change. For 13 years the Watsonville Film Festival has worked to shift disempowering narratives and nurture an ecosystem for independent filmmakers in Watsonville and the Monterey Bay region.
Esperanza Community Farms will offer organic salad bar for $10-15
About Chef Lonewolf: Christina Lonewolf Martinez is a private chef in the Monterey Bay Area with a passion for raising awareness about Indigenous foods and culinary traditions. Born and raised in Monterey County, she finds inspiration in the bounty of land and sea that has sustained Indigenous communities across the Central Coast for thousands of years. Her family’s roots in agriculture instilled a respect for stewardship of the land, and an apprenticeship at Big Sur’s famed Post Ranch Inn in 2015 introduced her to the breadth of local, foraged foods. With ancestral roots to the Comanche, Yaqui, Apache, and Shoshone tribes, she hopes her cooking can help preserve Native American traditions and cultivate community.
She previously worked as a chef at Stokes Adobe and Cella Restaurant + Bar in Monterey, California, and served as the executive chef for the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County’s Harvest Festival in 2022 and 2023. She has contributed recipes to a forthcoming cookbook from the Buffalo Tribal Council of South Dakota celebrating Indigenous cuisines that will be published in 2025.
Reserve* Chef Lonewolf’s tasting plate for the film finale: Gather
($55 tasting)
-Bison & Beef bone consomme, acorn fry bread, bone marrow, confit quail yolk, wild onion flowers, bachelor buttons, & nasturtium leaves.
-Smoked mussels with a wild herb salsa verde, salmon roe & pickled sea grapes.
-Hearty foragers salad
-Acorn cake, elderberry and bay laurel whipped cream.
-take home acorn cookies