John

Chester

Emmy Award Winning Filmmaker

Children’s Book Author

Travels from: Burbank, CA

“Fresh air for the soul. Inspirational…enlightening… Both deeply personal and remarkably objective. Viewers share in the triumph of each tiny success.” — Variety

John Chester – Farmer, co-founder of Apricot Lane Farms, author, director, executive producer

John Chester has been a wildlife cinematographer and filmmaker for the last 25 years, winning five Emmy® Awards for his short films for OWN’s “Super Soul Sunday,” including Outstanding Directing, Writing and Cinematography. He’s also a children’s book author (Saving Emma The Pig, Macmillan 2019), and farmer and co-founder of Apricot Lane Farms, a 234-acre regenerative farm in Moorpark, California, which he and his wife Molly started in 2011. The farm became the subject of his latest film, the critically acclaimed feature documentary “The Biggest Little Farm,” which chronicles the epic 8-year story of endeavoring to build one of the most diverse farms of its kind in complete coexistence with nature. “The Biggest Little Farm” film premiered at the 2018 Telluride Film Festival and screened at more than 50 film festivals worldwide, including the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, 2019 Sundance Film Festival and 2019 Berlin International Film Festival. It was released theatrically nationwide by Neon in May 2019, followed by a worldwide release in over 20 countries and counting. The film was short-listed for an Academy Award® in 2020.

John's Featured Titles

Saving Emma the Pig (The Biggest Little Farm)

Feiwel & Friends |

May 14, 2019

Children’s

A companion picture book to the award-winning film, “The Biggest Little Farm”!

Welcome to Apricot Lane Farm, a unique world full of true stories about heartwarming animals’ relationships and the special people who care for them.

When Emma the pig arrives at the Apricot Lane Farm, she is about to give birth to piglets. But she is also sick, and after her seventeen babies arrive, Emma is unable to care for them.

Taking care of seventeen piglets and a sick mama pig is a challenge for Farmer John and his team. But the cure for Emma reminds them what is most important―for pigs and for humans: love and friendship. Saving Emma the Pig is a heartfelt picture book from John Chester, with gorgeous illustrations from Jennifer L. Meyer

Animals & Wildlife, Friendship & Community, Kid-Lit: Picture Books & Early Readers, Nonfiction

"Biggest Little Farm" Film Screening & Interactive Q&A w/ John Chester

The Oscar shortlisted film THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM chronicles the eight-year quest of John and Molly Chester as they trade city living for 200 acres of barren farmland and a dream to harvest in harmony with nature. Through dogged perseverance and embracing the opportunity provided by nature’s conflicts, the Chester’s unlock and uncover a biodiverse design for living that exists far beyond their farm, its seasons, and our wildest imagination.
Featuring breathtaking cinematography, captivating animals, and an urgent message to heed Mother Nature’s call, THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM provides us all a vital blueprint for better living and a healthier planet.

John’s Q&A’s are a hybrid of audience interaction and thematically appropriate story telling. These presentations seamlessly connect the films story of coexistence with nature to the universal themes of of the human condition; fear, death, alienation, connection & love.

The opposing forces of nature that saved a little farm. (Multi Media Presentation)

In this inspiring and highly visual multi media talk, Award winning National Geographic filmmaker and biodynamic farmer John Chester shares his families idealistic journey to reawaken the ecosystem of an old industrial lemon farm. A decades long journey to becoming one of the most biologically diverse farms in Southern California.

Drawing from his farming experiences at Apricot Lane Farms, John highlights the transformative power of curiosity for the many wild creature who call the farm home. Through captivating stories and visuals from his Emmy award winning documentary work, he illustrates the unexpected ways wildlife returned to balance pest and disease epidemics.

It’s impossible to not draw similarities between the ways of nature and the human condition. The immune system of the farm was rebuilt by a diversity of misunderstood creatures with competing agendas. To unlock the infinite resilience of the land required his family to embrace a comfortable level of disharmony. No different than our human experience at a family thanksgiving dinner during an election year.

The Making of the biggest little farm : Behind The Scene of The Biggest Little Farm (Multi Media Presentation)

In this highly visual talk John reveals the tricks and techniques used to capture the stories of domestic farm animal and wild life “characters” behind one of the worlds most famous little farms.

An illuminating behind the scenes glimpse at the high tech filmmaking infrastructure seamlessly woven into the the farms ecosystem; from dozens of remote cameras, to secret edit rooms tucked into barns.

The award winning theatrical film and it follow up blue chip series, allowed he and his team to develop new approaches to capturing and editing stories with untrained “animal characters”. The talk explores the power of observation and the patience with place. Beyond the equipment the filmmakers greatest ally was the 10 years spent to observe the patterns. He explains the ways they decoded the rhythm of an ecosystem that runs on repeating patterns. Like the returning seasons, there are cycles in animal behavior that repeat over and over again.

John also shares the films journey to the big screen from the grueling necessity of test audiences to the films unexpected prestigious festival tour (Telluride, Toronto, SUNDANCE, Berlin etc) to North American distribution deal with NEON and world wide theatrical release.

“Fresh air for the soul. Inspirational…enlightening…Both deeply personal and remarkably objective. Viewers share in the triumph of each tiny success… Stunning, unexpectedly gorgeous wildlife footage.” — Variety

“There is always that little sleeper-hit film in Telluride, the one you randomly keep hearing about that has stolen the hearts of the audiences. This year, the honors belong to the uplifting documentary The Biggest Little Farm. The success story of the Chesters and their Apricot Lane Farms has the power to give birth to a new generation of inspired farmers, determined to invest in the future of the planet.” — Film Journal International

“Over the last decade of farming our land and watching the diverse groups of skeptics turned believers tour the farm, I’ve settled on this idea that we might have a better chance of changing the world through storytelling that offers third-graders and up a new lens through which to view farming and food. They will influence the consciousness of their parents and we will slowly shift to the importance of a local ecosystem reliant a food-growing economy.” — John Chester

“I think if we are, as a culture, going to get people to care about the Earth, it is not because we’re going to tell them they’re gonna die or things are gonna go wrong, it’s if we can show them how incredibly beautiful it is and they find something that they love in it, they will never let it die.” — John Chester

“The Biggest Little Farm” Rotten Tomatoes Link

Oscar Short Listed Films

Variety Review of “The Biggest Little Farm”

John’s Past Film Work

“The Biggest Little Farm” Movie

“Lost in Woonsocket”

Signed Books Link

Honors, Awards & Recognition

Palm Springs International Film Festival – Audience Award for Best Documentary
Toronto International Film Festival – Second runner-up for The Grolsch People’s Choice Documentary Award [23]
Sundance Film Festival – Runner-up for the Festival Favorite Award [24]
American Film Institute Fest – Audience Award for Best Feature [25]
Boulder Film Festival – Grand Jury Prize for Feature Length Film [26]
Boulder Film Festival – Best Documentary [26]
Mill Valley Film Festival – Silver Audience Award for Valley of the Docs Presentation [27]
Hamptons International Film Festival – Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature [28]
Middleburg Film Festival – Audience Award for Best Documentary [29]
Annapolis Film Festival – Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary [30]
Gasparilla Film Festival – Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Documentary
Sedona Film Festival – Best of the Fest [31]
Sedona Film Festival – Director’s Choice Award for Best Documentary [31]
92nd Oscars Shortlist – Documentary Feature