It may surprise many to discover America's diet—and especially its fast-food diet—sits atop a giant pile of corn. High-fructose corn syrup sweetens our sodas, corn feed fattens our beef, even those ingredients no one understands (Xanthan Gum, anyone?) are corn derivatives. In King Corn, college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis try to better understand the realities of the "corn industrial complex" by getting in on the ground level—they lease a single acre of farmland in Iowa and plant a crop. From government subsidy applications (they receive $28 to grow their acre) to fertilization to pesticides to harvest, these two city boys explore the alternating hilarity and horrific reality of their growing stalks. They attempt to trace the path their crop will eventually take, to the feed lots and the syrup production plants, and to the hands of an increasingly obese and diabetes-ridden population. "A worthy companion piece to Super Size Me and Fast Food Nation (more the book than the movie), King Corn will put you off corn for a long, long time, but this is as much a thoughtful meditation on the plight of the American farmer as it is a rant against our expanding waistlines." (Village Voice) More at kingcorn.net 35mm Cosponsored with Finger Lakes Environmental Film Fest.
2007, color, 1 hour 28 minutes, USA