Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness

Lydon and Kang spent what they call a "meager" life savings to make the film, along with the volunteer efforts of farmers, translators, writers, musicians they had met during their journey. Although the film was filmed, written, and edited entirely by the two directors, they readily admit that the process of making the film was co-operative effort, with more than 200 volunteers directly involved in the process in some way. The soundtrack was recorded with professional musicians from each of the three countries where filming took place, all of whom donated their time to contribute to the film project.[7] With the continued help of international volunteers, the film has been translated into five languages (Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Turkish), and three more (Portuguese, French, Vietnamese) are in progress.[8][9][10]

Artists and filmmakers, Patrick Lydon and Suhee Kang host a 'mandala' workshop after a screening of their film in Seoul, South Korea.

Frustrated by the lack of distribution and film festival options for low- and no-budget films, the filmmakers made the decision to manage distribution and touring in the same way they went about filming, through co-operative effort. With the help of volunteers, independent theater owners, and community organizers, they launched an extensive tour throughout Japan and South Korea from 2015-2016, eventually screening the film at over 130 venues.[11]

Rather than simply screening the film, the filmmakers decided to transition their existing media production organization, SocieCity, into a vehicle for art and community engagement.[12] They made a point of hosting interactive events along with their screenings and in several cases, stayed in communities for up to three months at a time to build natural gardens and host a project they call REALtimeFOOD, a grown-to-order restaurant which connects the ideas from the film with real-world practices in farming, food, and crafts.[13][14] In most cases, these efforts were funded by grants from local philanthropic organizations and/or supported by the communities themselves.[15][16]

The film received positive reviews, with New York Times bestselling author and musician Alicia Bay Laurel calling it "both art and documentary", and others calling it "meditative, and mindful", and "an inspiring call to action."[17][18] Video Librarian, a longtime resource of film reviews for educational institutions, gave the film 4.5 stars for its "intriguing, inspiring" and "delicate" touches, while being an excellent "modern overview of one of the major causes of the climate crisis".[19]

Interested in the unconventional way the film was being made and toured, multiple magazines and newspapers in Japan and Korea followed the directors during several parts of their journey, notably ESSEN, Bar and Dining, and Road magazines, and Shikoku Shinbun and Huffington Post newspapers.[20][21][22]

During the tour, the film was eventually picked up by festivals including Tassie Eco Film Festival and Belleville Doc Fest.[23]

The film was one of 25 chosen for the Global Environmental Justice Collection, an educational film collection supported by the International Documentary Association and curated by professors from Whittier, Yale, and New York University. The collection won the 2020 Buchanan Prize, which goes annually to "an outstanding pedagogical, instructional, or curriculum publication on Asia designed for K-12 and college."[24][25][26]