Author: Benjamin Miller, Outgoing Karma Chronicle Editor

If you’re like me, you’re probably always looking for fascinating films about the cooperative movement. There are a few movies on Netflix but they lack substance. If you’re looking for genuine learning, then you will probably get a kick out of this “forgotten book” called Movies for Co-op Meetings. This booklet offers a list of films (no doubt now quite difficult to track down even if you do have a VCR) on issues relating to co-ops The very existence of the list speaks to communal and social nature of co-ops even at their AGMs.

Here’s a sample of some of the films that sounded most interesting to me and were actually available in some form:

1. Power and the Land: This film documents the struggle of rural communities in the US to access electricity and their creativity and resilience in doing so. It’s available on YouTube!

2.Farm Electrification: This film documents Canada’s early efforts to electrify farms. It is available through the National Film Board. For those who want to put Canada’s modern industrial farming in historical context, this will surely be of interest.

3. A Trip to Cooperative Europe: This film is a travelogue of visiting co-ops across Europe. I was not able to find the film but it seems to be based on a book which is available through Florida Atlantic University library!

Here are some of the titles I couldn’t find but sound great. They are mainly about the early history of the cooperative movement in rural areas of the US:

–Banking on the land: a film about collective mortgage solutions.

–Here is Tomorrow: a story about the progress of the co-op movement

If you watch any of these films, feel free to share the review with your fellow cooperators in the Chronicle!