Event

BOTANY OF DESIRE

Tuesday, August 31 at 7:30pm $9 Members / $13 Public (Includes Reception)

Flowers. Trees. Plants. We've always thought that we controlled them. But what if, in fact,
they have been shaping us? Using this provocative question as a jumping off point, The
Botany of Desire, based on the best-selling book by Michael Pollan, takes us on an eyeopening
exploration of our relationship with the plant world – seen from the plants' point of
view. Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers:
to make their honey, the bees collect nectar, and in the process spread pollen, which contains
the flowers' genes. The Botany of Desire proposes that people and domesticated plants have
formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. Shot in stunning high definition photography, the
program begins with Michael Pollan in a California garden and sets off to roam the world: from
the potato fields of Idaho and Peru to the apple orchards of New England; from a medical
marijuana hot house to the tulip mecca of Amsterdam, where in 1637, one Dutchman, crazed with "tulipmania," paid as much for a
single tulip bulb as the going price for a town house. Through the history of these four familiar plants, the film seeks to answer the
question: Who has really been domesticating whom? USA, 2009, 108 min.; Narrator: Frances McDormand

Based on the best-selling book by Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire explores our
relationship with the plant world and asks the question, who has been controlling whom?