New 'King Corn' documentary debuts at Iowa State November 7

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AMES, Iowa – What Iowan doesn’t know about corn? We grow more of it than anyone else; it’s everywhere around us, in many of our foods, and increasingly is filling our fuel tanks. Yet sometimes it helps to have a set of fresh eyes, which is exactly what is offered by a new feature documentary that will be presented at Iowa State University on November 7.

The ISU Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture and a number of other ISU groups will host an Iowa screening of King Corn, a 90-minute documentary directed by award-winning filmmaker Aaron Woolf.

In the film, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from Yale University, move to the small town of Greene in north central Iowa to grow an acre of corn and follow it through the food system. While being a critical documentary, King Corn unfolds in a humorous fashion, from a trip to register their one acre for government payments, to trying to make high-fructose corn syrup in the farm house kitchen. The Boston Globe has called this film “enormously entertaining” and it also will be broadcast nationally next year as part of the PBS series, Independent Lens.

After the screening, filmmakers Ellis and Woolf will discuss the film, its findings and implications.

“We’re really looking forward to screening the film in Iowa,” says Ellis. “We enjoyed living there, and this film would not have been possible without the kind support of so many Iowans.” Two Iowa State University professors appear in the film.

The screening and discussion will take place in the LeBaron Auditorium at 6:30 and 8 p.m., respectively, on November 7.

Joining the GPSA to screen the documentary are the ISU Bioethics Program, the Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, ISU Department of Sociology, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Slow Food Ames and the ISU Committee on Lectures (funded by GSB).
 

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The Leopold Center was established by the 1987 Iowa Groundwater Protection Act as a research and education center at Iowa State University to develop sustainable agricultural practices that are both profitable and conserve natural resources. Iowa State does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Vietnam Era Veteran. Any persons having inquiries concerning this may contact the Director of Affirmative Action, 3210 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.

This page was found at http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/10-23-2007/new-king-corn-documentary-debuts-iowa-state-november-7 on 01/21/2013