*Just Film Festival: Milk Men

Psychologist and filmmaker Jan Haaken revisits the region where she spent childhood summers on her aunt and uncle’s dairy farm, following four families as they try to survive amidst intense pressures that have led most dairies to go under. Filmed over the changing seasons and richly scenic agricultural terrain of the Pacific Northwest, dairy farming emerges as a fascinating tale of modernity. Regardless of the size of their operations, these families all struggle to hold onto traditions while adapting to change, from economic and technological forces to shifting intergenerational and gender roles. MILK MEN explores as well the symbolic place of dairy cows in the public imagination, and societal discomfort with industrializing a business long associated with rural America.