There are always a handful of Oscar categories where I don’t recognize a few, if not most, of the nominated titles and usually the two biggest culprits are the Foreign Language and Documentary categories. Over the past few years, I’ve been making more of an effort to see documentary films throughout the year and the local cineplexes have made it quite easy, screening a great assortment of both excellent and sometimes not so good but entertaining none the less fare. Still, though I’ve seen a couple of the nominees on the ballot, a few others have sort of popped out of no where and the case seems to be true for a lot of critics.

Listening to a few podcasts and doing a little reading, I’ve discovered that The Garden has come out of left field. The film, directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy, chronicles the hardships of South Central farmers in Los Angeles who, out of the ashes of the L.A. riots, created a 14 acre community garden, the largest of its kind in the US, which is then threatened to be destroyed by construction.

The film had its most recent run at the Palm Springs film festival but a few Canadians are going to have a chance to see it. The Montreal chapter of Cinema Politica is screening the film on Monday, February 9th at Concordia University. CP screenings are free and I assume this may be pretty busy so if you’re keen, be sure to arrive early! Additional details on the screening, including room information and start time, is available at the CP website.

Check out the great trailer which is tucked under the seat!