Land Rush

December 2012
Normal Life Pictures (Hugo Berkeley)

Land Rush is a one hour documentary film shot in Mali exploring the huge expansion of international agribusiness on Africa’s most fertile arable land. In Mali, 75% of the country’s population are farmers but only 5% of the land is arable. The film follows an American, Mima Nedelcovych, seeking to develop a sugar plantation, Sosumar, some Malian farmers who support the scheme, and others who oppose it, seeing it as a manifestation of imperialism. Tackling questions such as food sovereignty, land ownership and how development is sold to Africa, Hugo Berkeley and Osvalde Lewat’s film asks who owns Africa?