Fork in the Road was conceived at a women’s climate leadership retreat in the Hudson River Valley in 2018.  A diagram of a plant sequestering carbon in the soil inspired Lisa Holmes and Vivian Sorenson to create a film that made the connection between food and agriculture at a time when the words “climate change” were missing from the national media. Bringing their respective backgrounds in food entertainment television and philanthropy and agriculture, Vivian and Lisa initially intended to profile chefs and restaurants that utilized their cultural capital to procure local ingredients that were regeneratively produced. Enter Jonathan Nastasi, a talented filmmaker, and their journey working nights and weekends to create this labor of love began. 

 

Initially conceived as a series revolving around ingredients, when the project won a Redford Center grant, the project evolved into a feature-length documentary. When the pandemic hit, filming came to a halt as the world came to a standstill, and the restaurant industry imploded. The filmmakers took a pause and realized that there was a different story to tell about the effect of the increasing industrialization and corporatization in food and agriculture on food supply chains and small farmers. Inspired by the life’s work of Wendell Berry, the Kentucky writer, environmental activist, and farmer, the film shifted to uplifting the stories of the farmers and the non-profits supporting them.