More than 250,000 farmers have killed themselves in India since 1995. In a village at the center of the suicide epidemic, a farmer and his family struggle to keep their land while a teenage girl makes her first steps to become a journalist and tell the world about the crisis.

Traditionally, Indian farmers have used seeds from the previous year's crop. Then came Monsanto’s genetically-modified (GMO) Bt cotton seeds, designed only for a single year's use so farmers are forced to buy new seeds every year.

Director Micha X. Peled interviews farmers and their families, seed salesmen and Monsanto executives, author Vandana Shiva, and village elders who remember when life as a cotton farmer was not so bitter.

Discussion will be led by Suchithra Ramaswamy and Karthik Suryanarayanan, activists of the Association for India’s Development who have coordinated a rural development project in the Vidharba region of India.

Free and open to the public

Info: tricityperspectives.org 510-797-0895 408-297-2299 sanjosepeace.org

Sponsored by Tri-City Perspectives, Niles Discovery Church, San José Peace and Justice Center, Association for India’s Development, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom – San José Branch