“Comfort Farms” is a powerful feature-length documentary coming soon to a screen near you.
THE STORY
LOGLINE
Accompanied by an unlikely group of veterans, animal-loving butchers, farmers and chefs, a former combat army Ranger launches a new mission at Comfort Farms—a unique therapy farm meant to help those at high risk for suicide.
SYNOPSIS
An unlikely group of Veterans, butchers, farmers, chefs and activists come together at Comfort Farms—a unique Veteran therapy farm in central Georgia. After interviews with combat Veterans who tell their stories and attempt to set the record straight with respect to what it means to be a Veteran, and an introduction to a butcher and food activist who wants to do the same with respect to his vocation, the narrative eventually comes to focus mostly on former combat Army Ranger Jon Jackson. Jon attempted to take his life after returning home after six tours overseas and “losing his sense of purpose of what it means to be a warrior”. But Jon took a stand and developed Comfort Farms, a sustainable therapy farm set up to serve the community and his fellow Veterans, many of which suffer from the same lack of purpose. The farm is named after his fallen Ranger brother Captain Kyle Comfort. However, the name, like so much of the story, is a kind of paradox. It’s revealed that Comfort Farms is not meant to be a place of comfort, but a place where people move out of their comfort zone and confront the reality of things like death, truth, love, and sacrifice. Through a variety of narratives we hear the perspectives of various characters and combat Veterans, including a Veteran turned therapist and another who fought in the Philippines during WW2, a butcher and chef who’s a proponent of humane animal slaughter, and the perspective of farm founder Jon Jackson who’s focus is on a unique form of agro-cognitive behavioral therapy and challenging our culture to respect what they eat. These narratives come together and form an interesting juxtaposition that brings up a number of interesting questions, not just about Veterans’ issues per se, but about the human condition, the nature of sacrifice, love, life, death and triumph.