I'm an award-winning student documentarian who is especially interested in building a better future for humanity. Created during the COVID-19 pandemic, my debut film, Growing Peace in the Middle East, documents the amazing story of Jewish and Arab women in Israel being brought together through hydroponic farming and sustainability. To date, the short has earned nominations and wins in 100+ categories globally, including the prestigious London Independent Film Festival and International Human Rights Arts Festival. In 2021, I founded Growing Peace Inc., a non-profit organization that is working to help people around the world access food and become self-sufficient.

    Steven Hoffen, a high school teen, was inspired to action following a visit to Sindyanna of Galilee, a nonprofit organization in Israel where Arab and Jewish women work together closely, cultivating social change as they grow produce in hydroponic gardens.

   Through a series of remote interviews conducted during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Steven documented Sindyanna’s efforts. There was a meaningful, ongoing collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli women, despite their cultural differences, demonstrating the importance of learning and the economic opportunities grown through the power of agricultural science.

   From these interviews, Steven created an original short film, “Growing Peace in the Middle East,” now an award-winning documentary, to help show the world a really unique way that these amazing people are achieving greater independence and opportunity. In this particular case, Sindyanna brings together women whose lives couldn’t be more different and teaches them hydroponic farming skills that help them combat food insecurity while empowering them with meaningful, skilled, uplifting work.

  To continue to raise awareness and grow the humanitarian impact of his film, Steven formed the namesake nonprofit Growing Peace Inc. Inspired by the outcomes at Sindyanna, Growing Peace centers around hydroponics as a medium to educate, empower and help those in need. Growing Peace has now installed hydroponic gardens in Israel and throughout New York City. 
After Steven's successful fundraising effort, his first hydroponics project to help an underserved community was installed in early 2022. Since then, Steven has worked to bring hydroponics to food pantries and other organizations that help those in need.
 

  “I hope to play my part in improving the world by providing healthy and nutritional food where it is less available and sharing a platform that can help teach others to become more aware of the benefits of farming technologies that improve our climate.”
- Steven Hoffen