(Pueblo, CO – June 18, 2024) – MIRASOL, Looking at the Sun, a documentary produced by Palmer Land Conservancy, a Colorado land and water conservation champion, featuring the Pueblo agricultural community, makes its debut in Salida, in conjunction with our friends at Guidestone Colorado and Central Colorado Conservancy, on Thurs., July 18, at the SteamPlant Event Center.

For tickets and information on the film, visit MirasolFilm.com.

MIRASOL highlights water as a finite resource — and an essential one. For farmers, it’s everything.

Award-winning director Ben Knight explores a national issue, magnified in the American West, around water scarcity, following a multi-generational Italian and Hispanic farming community living on “The Mesa” in Pueblo, Colorado. Shedding light on their history and heritage, each family shares their agricultural lineage, one that transcends every aspect of their lives, shaping their culture and livelihood.

Realizing an uncertain future due the West’s diminishing water supply, Williams Family Farm and Seed Store, Musso Farms, Professor Mike Bartolo and Martellaro Family Farms reflect on their passion to grow and nourish their families, communities and pastime.

Through these voices, the film offers a story about the deep connection and love of the land, family, and the famed Pueblo Chile.

View the trailer HERE.

Visit the film website: mirasolfilm.com

Download film images HERE.

Nationally, we are losing 2,000 acres of land each day. The film explores how rural agricultural communities, and the food they put on our tables, is threatened by rapid development, population growth, climate change, and competing economies. MIRASOL challenges us to consider what’s at stake and whether we are willing to take action to protect it.

Filmmaker Ben Knight has built a career telling compelling, wide-reaching stories with compassion and artistry. His documentaries, produced for renowned brands such as Patagonia, National Geographic, and The North Face, have been showcased at film festivals and to audiences around the world. His notable works include Red Gold (2008), DamNation (2014), The Last Honey Hunter (2018), and Learning to Drown (2021). Knight masterfully intertwines emotional human narratives while showcasing the grandeur of the natural world, and has a unique ability to bring significant environmental and cultural stories to the forefront.

MIRASOL had its World Premiere at the renowned Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana in February 2024 and was a finalist in the prestigious competition for the Big Sky Award. The film screened as part of the Changemakers Program at the 5Point Film Festival in Carbondale in April and screened twice during the MountainFilm Festival in Telluride over Memorial Day Week. It is slated to screen at the Crested Butte Film Festival Sept. 18-22.

Palmer, in conjunction with our friends at Guidestone Colorado and Central Colorado Conservancy, is set to premiere MIRASOL in Salida on Thurs., July 18, 5:30 p.m., and Denver on Wed., Sept. 18. Other community screenings and events can be found at: MIRASOLFILM.com.

One of the most pressing issues of our time in the American West is the dwindling water supply from the Colorado River, which is a lifeline for 40 million people and the $15 million a year agriculture industry that depends on it. Analysts say the river is in peril and climate change, resulting in rising temperatures, low snowpack and drought, has put us in crisis.

The impact moves far beyond the Colorado River Basin as 70 percent of water supplies from southern Colorado’s largest urban areas in the Arkansas River Basin, Colorado Springs and Pueblo, rely on the Colorado River.

Palmer Land Conservancy’s Bessemer Farmland Conservation Project in Pueblo is an example of solutions that are being developed to balance the competing needs of water between growing cities, agriculture, and the environment.

MIRASOL is a catalyst for meaningful change — one where citizens can mobilize to protect land and water for the well-being of nature and people. It is up to us to write the ending of the MIRASOL story with our actions today. Because loving a place is only the beginning; one must have the courage to protect it. Here’s what you can do to protect water, land, and local food:

• View – Attend a screening and tell a friend.
• Join – Become a Palmer member to join the urgent movement to conserve land and water resources.
• Buy – Buy local food direct from farmers, ranchers, and purveyors from Palmer’s Local Food Guide. And, purchase your hometown chile – the Pueblo chile.
• Follow – For news on land, water, and local food, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Quotes

“This land should be like our only child. We should be protecting it with everything we have. We must make a decision – we can grow crops or we can grow houses.”

– Mike Bartolo, featured subject in film

“The word culture sits big and proud in the word agriculture. You can’t separate culture from the practice of agriculture itself – food is one of the most important artifacts that we pass down to the next generation – it shapes who we are. It tells our story. The loss of water over the years and in my lifetime is tragic, especially in rural spaces. Part of celebrating our cultural legacy is ensuring we preserve it. This is an important moment of reclamation and I am hopeful. If we can provide farmers the tools to keep them on the land, they have the ability to manage an uncertain future. They are resilient beyond measure.” Dawn DiPrince, Executive Director, History Colorado and State Historic Preservation Officer

“MIRASOL gave me the opportunity to intimately engage with my Colorado neighbors, and the Arkansas River watershed. The more time I spent out in the fields, family kitchens and digging into archives — the more I started to realize how incredibly vulnerable and precious this sliver of irrigated mesa is. Before long it became my mission to tell a story that’s all too common in agriculture: We are taking these places and these people for granted. My hope with MIRASOL was to simply help remind folks how fragile it all is.”
-Ben Knight, Director

“There is nothing more powerful than storytelling and film when it comes to opening people’s eyes and hearts to an issue. MIRASOL inspires us to protect agricultural communities, the lifeblood of our local food system, and stand up for all the hardworking families and thriving fields on the fringes of cities that are so often taken for granted. Conservation is currently losing the race, and we’re not keeping pace with the need. We produced the film to bridge the divide between rural and urban life and to amplify the importance of Palmer’s conservation work on the frontlines of water and farmland conservation in Colorado. As a community, and as a nation, we have a choice to make. What will you choose?”

-Kristie Nackord, Producer, Palmer Land Conservancy

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Ben Knight was first inspired to make documentaries as a young man working behind the projector at Telluride Mountainfilm. Since then, he has become widely acclaimed for his adventure and environmental filmmaking. His films include the feature length documentary DamNation (premiered at SXSW 2014 and produced in conjunction with Patagonia), The Last Honey Hunter (Mountainfilm 2018; National Geographic), Learning to Drown (Tribeca 2021; The North Face) — and a myriad of films that masterfully intertwine raw human stories with the grandeur of the natural world.

ABOUT PALMER LAND CONSERVANCY

Since 1977, Palmer Land Conservancy has worked to conserve over 138,000 acres of land forever. They are a cutting-edge Colorado water and conservation leader committed to developing innovative solutions that balance the competing needs of dwindling water supplies that allow for growing cities, thriving agriculture, and a healthy environment. Palmer has spent the last 8 years working alongside the local Pueblo farmers, community, and local water utility to protect “the Mesa” in the face of an impending dry up.

To join the movement, visit palmerland.org and mirasolfilm.com