Washington, D.C. -- June 21, 2011 -- The armed raid of Venice Beach's Rawsome, a health food buying club is only one of many such government actions against organic food clubs exposed in Kristin Canty's documentary film Farmageddon--the Unseen War on American Family Farms which debuted last week in DC and now heads to L.A. this Thursday for one week, and then on to NYC in early July. The film is playing June 24-30 at the Laemmle Monica 4-plex in Santa Monica.

Local foodies and food bloggers, have volunteered to be the advance team for the film, handing out flyers at farmers markets, working the social media and organizing special events to promote group sales. The filmmaker will be in Los Angeles to do Q&A sessions after a number of shows this weekend. Tickets are already on sale through on the Laemmle website.

Mark and Blaine McAfee, owners of Organic Pastures Dairy in Fresno, whose grass based dairy is featured in the film, will offer raw milk tastings outside the theatre and join the filmmaker to comment on the film after the 5:30pm show on Saturday.

The filmmaker was inspired by the work of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. FTCLDF defends small sustainable farms which sell their farm products direct to consumers, against government interference.

A first time filmmaker, Kristin is a Massachusetts mom whose 4 year old son was healed of multiple allergies by adding farm fresh (raw) milk to his diet. Kristin offered to host a fundraiser for FTCLDF, and was horrified as she made posters of the farmers who were experiencing hardship at the hands of government. Kristin was moved into action, alarmed by the FTCLDF reports of armed raids of farm buying clubs and health food coops around the nation. Since she achieved near miraculous results by adding raw dairy to her son's diet, she found a film crew and went to work in defense of this nutritious food, which was the primary target in numerous raids.

Farmageddon tells the stories, in the words of the victims themselves, of the numerous trespasses of the health bureaucrats on farmers and consumers civil liberties. Canty also interviews experts on health and nutrition and leading local foods advocates to give a sobering assessment of the plight of farmers who seek to meet the growing demand for healthy, ecologically grown food. Congressman Ron Paul makes a cameo appearance decrying government's overreach into the health and diet decisions of American citizens.

Kristin Canty is a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nutrition education and activist group, as well as the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. With the film, she hopes to draw the nation's attention to the hindrances faced by honest farmers and the tragedy of bucolic farm life disturbed by food police run amok.

The L.A. premiere runs from Friday, June 24 through June 30th. Showtimes for are 1:00pm, 3:15pm, 5:30pm, 7:45pm, 10:00pm. For tickets, contact Laemmle's Monica 4-plex, located at 1332 2nd Street, Santa Monica, 90401, the box office phone number is 310-478-3836.

For other screening dates and times, and to see the trailer, visit the Farmageddon website: http://farmageddonmovie.com. 

Learn more about farm raids on the FTCLDF website: http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/farm-raids.html

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund  defends the rights and broadens the freedoms of family farms and protects consumer access to raw milk and nutrient-dense foods. Concerned citizens can support the FTCLDF, a U.S. based 501(c)(4) nonprofit, by joining or donating online at www.farmtoconsumer.org or by calling 703-208-FARM (3276).

Media Contact Kim Hartke 703-860-2711 or 703-675-5557 [email protected].