Main Street News

The powerful 13-minute documentary, Sweet Samara, which is streaming on Black Public Media’s Youtube channel as part of its “AfroPoP Digital Shorts” series, will screen at Foxtrot Farm and Flowers in Stanfordville, NY, on Saturday, August 9 at 6pm. 

The film, which is directed by Divad Durant and produced by Chris Gauthier, follows Jalal Sabur, a Black farmer at Sweet Freedom Farm, located in Germantown, NY, as he tends to the land through the changing seasons while producing maple syrup. The film focuses on how Sabur’s farming practice honors Indigenous traditions, connects to the ancestral heritage of maple sugaring, and helps families provide fresh food for their incarcerated loved ones.

Prior to the screening, members are invited to a community farm day at Sweet Freedom Farm to learn and explore African diasporic crops, honor ancestors, and deepen connections between the community and the land. Following the outdoor screening at Foxtrot, there will be a discussion with director Divad Durant along with members of the film’s cast from Sweet Freedom Farm. 

“This day of gathering at the farm and the screening represents exactly what our film is about – community coming together in support of one another,” said Gauthier. “Foxtrot Farm’s generous support demonstrates the power of solidarity in advancing food justice and prison abolition.” 

About director Divad Durant 

Durant, a New York City firefighter, Brooklyn resident, and Hampshire College alumnus, started his journey in filmmaking as a young adult. He was a youth organizer in his community at a faith-based organization called Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in the South Bronx. While there, he worked to clean up the Bronx River and make it accessible for the local community, fought against police brutality, and made information more accessible to the community. At the same time, he worked as an intern for MTV, where he was mentored by the executive director of MTV Cribs, Erika Clarke.  

“I remember when she brought me into the editing suite and I watched the editors edit an episode of MTV Cribs. I realized how much effort went into making celebrities seem cool and interesting,” Durant recalls. “From then on, I understood the power of good storytelling. I made the connection that telling good stories was a great way to pass on valuable information that can inspire leadership and social change.” 

With this in mind, Durant set out to create films that would make a difference. When he first met Jalal Sabur, Sweet Freedom Farm didn’t exist yet. Sabur was working primarily to help families stay connected with their incarcerated loved ones by providing affordable rides and fresh food. 

“I was interested in this work and wanted to learn more about it. I also wanted to lift up this story and began to document his work. At the time, I was a new father, so I relied on a lot of support from collaborators to document Jalal’s work. Over the years, the work grew and changed, and the cameras kept on rolling,” he shares. 

“Jalal’s work is an activism that needs to be uplifted. When people think of being an organizer, an activist, a change-maker, they think of powerful speeches, people chanting, occupying public spaces, taking over buildings, and getting arrested for civil disobedience,” he continues. “All of these things are exciting, but I think it’s incredibly harmful to frame these actions as the only way to do this work.”

Durant notes that activism and organizing are primarily represented as solely reactionary responses to oppression, which simply isn’t the whole story. “Organizing is slow, tedious work. It isn’t exciting or sexy. It’s filled with lulls, it takes practice to build consensus, to make sure everyone’s voices are heard, to problem solve. It’s not easy. If it was, we’d be living in a utopia already.” 

Despite this, Durant believes it’s incredibly important that people understand the difficult and slow-moving parts of this work. Taking time to build, invest in, and reap what you sow is “honoring Indigenous traditions and ancestral heritage,” and Durant believes processes like these will allow marginalized communities to grow their power “on their terms.” 

About Sweet Freedom Farm 

Sweet Freedom Farm is a Black-led farm that grows foods for communities that are impacted by food apartheid and the prison industrial complex. Currently, Sweet Freedom Farm’s food moves via mutual aid programs, traditional food banks, and other organizations serving working families.  

They also operate a monthly free farm stand outside of Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, NY. “We envision a world free from prisons and from food apartheid. In the traditions of elders and ancestors, we are working to bring that world to fruition by building regional networks around cooperative food systems and mutual aid,” Sweet Freedom Farm writes on its website.

Sweet Freedom Farm is committed to regenerative agriculture that nurtures the land and the folks who are eating the food. Some of the sustainable farming techniques that they employ include low-till farming; adhering to organic principles; using minimal pest control sprays, instead opting for natural solutions like diatomaceous earth and kaolin clay; cover cropping to increase soil fertility and structure; and planting heritage crops to sustain “cultural foodways and strengthen the bond between our farm and the communities we serve.”

Sweet Freedom Farm has also been producing maple syrup for over a decade using traditional maple sugaring methods. “Maple sugaring is a tradition passed on to us by our Native American ancestors to harvest sweetness directly from the sugar maple trees,” Sweet Freedom Farm writes on its website. 

All proceeds for the screening of Sweet Samara will benefit Sweet Freedom Farm’s co-op vendor program, which sends food packages to incarcerated individuals. To learn more about Sweet Freedom Farm, visit its website here. 

The screening will take place on August 9 at 6pm at Foxtrot Farm and Flowers, located at 6862 Route 82, Stanfordville, NY. Tickets are available on a sliding scale from $20 through Eventbrite.