Directed by Sheila Laffey, 24min
This short doc tells the true story of the high profile controversy involving poor farmers and their supporters, including celebrity tree sitters, the developer and the city over the South Central Farm in Los Angeles which was the largest urban farm in the U.S. and fed 350 families before it was bulldozed.

Biography
Sheila is an award winning producer of documentaries and short dramatic films, mostly on the environment. Her latest release is SOUTH CENTRAL FARM: OASIS IN A CONCRETE DESERT which premiered at AFI Fest, screened at Palisades Film Fest and and is airing in the PBS “Natural Heroes” series. She co-directed and co-produced the feature documentary on mentoring, SHOW ME THE WAY with Oscar nominated William Gazecki which is to be released in 2008.

Her films in THE LAST STAND series on the Ballona Wetlands controversy, hosted by Ed Asner, won 20 awards, including a Cine Golden Eagle, and Best Documentary at several festivals. The 2004
version won a Telly Award for the 13 part “NATURAL HEROES” PBS series in which it aired.

Laffey’s other award winning works include WE ALL NEED THE FOREST and IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA, funded by the MacArthur Foundation. HAWAII IN TRANSITION: VISION FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE aired on over 20 PBS stations and is distributed by the Video Project. She was a co-producer of GEO-THERMAL: A RISKY BUSINESS IN HAWAII’S WAO KELE O PUNA RAINFOREST which helped save the last lowland tropical forest in the country. She produced her first film, WALDEN in college.

Laffey is Adjunct Film Professor at Santa Monica College. She earned a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from New York University. Her new course, Green Screen: Films on the Environment and Transformation, will begin in Fall, 2008.

Geoffrey Pepos (Producer/Editor) is a Sundance dramatic competition alumnus (2001), where he was producer, editor, composer, and director of photography for the grand jury prize nominated feature film, “Some Body.” His most recent project was as a producer and the editor for the PBS documentary, “South Central Farm: Oasis in a Concrete desert.”