"What does good food mean to you?" On Monday, Feb. 28, starting at 6:15 p.m. at the Morris Lawrence Building on the campus of Washtenaw Community College, the first Michigan Good Food Film Festival will screen short films created by students and community members that illustrate the variety of answers to this question.

The film festival screening is free and open to the public, and it is the opening event for the 3rd annual HomeGrown Local Food Summit, taking place the following day on Tuesday, March 1.

Submissions for the 30-second and 3-5 minute films include titles like "Breakfast," "Michigan Farm Women," "The Season of the Raspberry," and "Edible Avalon: Rooted in Community." Judges who will select the film winners include Michigan filmmaker, writer and food system organizer, Chris Bedford, and Jennifer White, host of All Things Considered and director of Community Outreach at Michigan Radio.

This first Michigan Good Food Film Festival was developed as a collaborative effort among Washtenaw Community College, Slow Food Huron Valley, the Food System Economic Partnership and Whole Foods Market as a way to demonstrate how "food is where all the major issues of our time converge. At least three times a day we make decisions about health, justice, the environment and really the future of our communities and our planet. This Film Festival is an opportunity to demonstrate what a 'good food future' might look like.”

Victoria Bennett, special projects coordinator for the Business and Technologies Division says “Washtenaw Community College's Digital Video Program was developed with an understanding that the future is about interaction. Our award-winning faculty developed a curriculum that asks students to use the digital video medium to communicate stories for business, non-profit, public service and entertainment. Students start using a camera in their first class and end the program using the state-of-the-art editing and display facilities. The Michigan Good Food Film Festival is just one of the ways that WCC is working to provide opportunities for students to create meaningful work with real world applications.”

“We are delighted to support this year’s film festival,” says Mary Ann Nisley, marketing and community relations for Whole Foods Market. “At Whole Foods Market we recognize our responsibility to be active participants in our local communities and believe in supporting local farmers and producers. We do this through our Local Producer Loan Program as well as through our commitment to offering locally grown and produced foods for sale in our stores. Sponsoring the Michigan Good Food Film Festival is an extension of something we believe in strongly.”

The Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP), a five-county collaborative non-profit, “exists to catalyze change in the food system of Southeast Michigan.” As part of its work, FSEP connects farmers with eaters (especially young eaters) to help put food grown in our region on our tables. Farm to School program director Michaelle Rehmann says "for the past four years, FSEP has worked to build relationships between school food service directors at K-12 schools with farmers in our communities. As a result, everything from fresh kale to rutabaga to zucchini has been served in school lunches. Through the Farm to School Program, we've helped our children understand what good food is and where it comes from. The Michigan Good Food Film Festival is an opportunity for students to show us what they've learned!"

While the judges at the Michigan Good Food Film Festival will select the winners who will be awarded cash prizes, the audience will also be asked to designate a winner for the Viewer's Choice Award. Organizers for the Michigan Good Food Film Festival suggest that everyone comes hungry for a banquet of answers to the question: "What does good food mean to you?"