The Hunger Season is coming…

Across the world a massive food crisis is unfolding.
Climate Change, increasing consumption in China and India, the dash for Biofuels are causing hitherto unimagined food shortages and rocketing prices.  This has already provoked unrest and violence from the Middle East to South America and there is no end in sight in the coming months.

The people who are going to be most sorely affected are those already living on the razors edge of poverty, those dependent on food aid for their very survival. As commodity prices have risen by 50%, the UN Agencies have barely half the budget they need to meet the needs of 73 million hungry people they are currently feeding.  We could be facing one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes of all time if governments do not commit more resources. It is time to examine the system of food aid and question the extent of our commitment to ending hunger.

Over the last two years we have been filming an unfolding humanitarian crisis in one small African nation Swaziland, and using this example to ask why, in spite of our incredible agricultural productivity, in spite of the Millennium Goals and a massive UN food aid programme, are we failing to solve the problem of hunger?

Filmed on location in the US, Europe and Southern Africa, the narrative tells the story of a young teacher called Justice and the children in his care living in the heart of rural Swaziland as they struggle to survive a year of drought and diminishing food handouts. The film connects their story to the Swazi Government, to the UN agencies and ultimately Western governments, unravelling the forces at work in one crisis, charting the players and decision makers who actions will determine the fate of one small community.

The Hunger Season forces us to consider the relationship between our governments, NGO’s and the fate of countries in the developing world. To examine how the system of food aid works and in some cases falters, and to consider whether or not our governments are prioritising sufficient resources to end the cycle of hunger. 

The Hunger Season was made with the support of

and the CBA-DIFD Broadcast Media Scheme.