King Corn

The evening begins with an optional social hour and pot luck supper at 6:00 pm,
followed by the film at 7:30 pm, followed by a discussion at the end of the film.

KING CORN

This alarming documentary is the humorous and touching story of two best friends who decide to move to Iowa to grow an acre of corn ─ after finding out (through laboratory hair analysis) that their bodies were made primarily out of… corn. The film traces a year in the life of two friends, but it's really about the history of corn in modern America and the filmmakers’ relationship with this pivotal crop of agribusiness. Americans are so “corny” because almost every product in conventional grocery stores ─ from steaks to chicken breasts to condiments to desserts to tomato sauce to frozen entrees to hamburgers to aspirin to soft drinks to baby formula to vegetable oil to vegetable broth to cereal to cold cuts to ice cream to toothpaste to disposable diapers to vitamins (the list goes on) are ultimately derived from corn, either in the form of high fructose corn syrup or from corn-based animal feed. The filmmakers visit cattle feedlots which hold thousands of animals dining on corn-based feed and learn that too much corn causes the cattle to eventually develop an acidic condition in one of their stomachs (acidosis) that eventually kills them. The filmmakers trace the history of corn subsidies in the U.S.  The current system started only about 30 years ago when the Farm Bill was changed and the emphasis was put on industrial-style monocropping. Agribusiness is the ruin of the world ─ see it close up for yourself.

Wheelchair accessible around the corner at 411 28th Street

$5 donations are accepted