Logo

PBS, ‘Independent Lens’: ‘King Corn’

May 17, 2009  •  Post A Comment

The question the film “King Corn” wanted to answer was simple: Where does our food come from? The answer was complex and sprawling, but it was made easier to digest by the storytelling, which the Peabody judges said started off “like a post-grad goof.”
College buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, the film’s co-producers and stars, set off for Greene, Iowa, with Mr. Ellis’ cousin Aaron Woolf, the film’s director and producer. There they leased an acre of land and planted it with corn, with the intention of following their crop to market.
Through the course of a year, they navigated federal subsidies (about $28 in their case), attempted to make high-fructose corn syrup in their kitchen and chronicled the transformation of family farms into high-yield industrial operations whose owners don’t eat their own product, instead sending it to be transformed into liquid sweetener and to plump cows that can’t easily digest it.
The three filmmakers, whose film aired as part of PBS’ “Independent Lens” series, had ancestors in the town. That allowed them to frame a narrative from their great-grandparents’ generation, where producing food was costly and time-consuming and efficiencies were highly sought-after, to that of Mr. Ellis and Mr. Cheney, whose “is the first to have the threat of a shorter lifespan, largely because of what they eat,” said Mr. Woolf, at 44 the eldest of the group.
The “light-bulb moment,” he said, came when the group realized that the Iowa farmers, who warmly received them, “knew as little about where their food went as we know about where our food came from.”
While they didn’t set out to change the food system, Mr. Woolf said, the experience left all of them caring deeply about the issue. Mr. Ellis is currently an IATP Food and Society Fellow, while Mr. Cheney is making films on environmental causes. Mr. Woolf, in addition to working on a PBS documentary about infrastructure, helped found the grassroots organization Food Democracy Now! and is part owner of a Brooklyn grocery, Urban Rustic, which sells locally sourced and organic food.
As a documentarian, “You’re living this observatory life,” Mr. Woolf said. “I think I had a yearning to do something participatory as well.”

21 Comments

  1. I love the way you write and also the theme on your blog. Did you code this yourself or was it done by a professional? I’m very very impressed.

  2. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

  3. Interesting layout on your blog. I really enjoyed reading it and also I will be back to read more in the future.

  4. I would like to start my own blog one day. This was a really nice blog that you made here. Keep up the success 😛

  5. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  6. Interesting thoughts here. I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us all. It’s people like you that make my day 🙂

  7. I would like to start my own blog one day. This was a really nice blog that you made here. Keep up the success 😛

  8. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

  9. Interesting thoughts here. I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us all. It’s people like you that make my day 🙂

  10. This is good info! Where else can if ind out more?? Who runs this joint too? Keep up the good work 🙂

  11. Keep focusing on your blog. I love how we can all express our feelings. This is an extremely nice blog here 🙂

  12. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks

  13. Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon

  14. The thing is that – this wont work efficiently in any way. Crazy idea, EOT!

  15. Interesting layout on your blog. I really enjoyed reading it and also I will be back to read more in the future.

  16. Nice blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What host are you using? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  17. You make blogging look like a walk in the park! I’ve been trying to blog daily but I just cant find writing material.. you’re an inspiration to me and i’m sure many others!

  18. This is good info! Where else can if ind out more?? Who runs this joint too? Keep up the good work 🙂

  19. Kudos to you! This is a really good blog here and I love your style of writing. How did you get so good at blogging?

  20. I love the way you write and also the theme on your blog. Did you code this yourself or was it done by a professional? I’m very very impressed.

Leave a Reply to Link Building Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)