Big River/King Corn (Classroom Version)

Synopsis

BIG RIVER is a companion film to KING CORN about the ecological consequences of industrial agriculture. This DVD contains a shortened (50 minute) classroom version of KING CORN (the full version is available separately). In KING CORN, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbours, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America’s most-productive, most-subsidised grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat - and how we farm.

In the follow-up, BIG RIVER,they return to Iowa to investigate the environmental impact their acre of corn has had on the people and places downstream. On their canoe trip, flashbacks to the pesticides they sprayed, the fertilisers they injected, and the soil they ploughed lead to new questions, explored by new experts in new places. Half of Iowa’s topsoil, they learn, has been washed out to sea. Fertiliser runoff has spawned a hypoxic ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf. And back at their acre, the herbicides they used are blamed for a cancer cluster that reaches all too close to home.

Language

English

Country

United States

Year of release

2010

Year of production

2009

Notes

The full 90-minute version of KING CORN is available from Bullfrog Films price $295.00

Subjects

Agriculture; Environmental science

Keywords

agricultural industries; crops; environmental issues; fertilisers; food production and distribution; herbicides; genetically modified crops

Credits

Director

Aaron Woolf

Contributor

Curt Ellis; Ian Cheney

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 0 NTSC

Price

$295.00

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

27 + 50 minutes

Year

2010

Production Company

Name

Independent Television Service

Name

Mosaic Films Incorporated

Distributor

Name

Bullfrog Films

Email

info@bullfrogfilms.com

Web

http://www.bullfrogfilms.com External site opens in new window

Phone

+1 610 779 8226

Fax

+1 610 370 1978

Address

PO Box 149
Oley, PA 19547
USA

Notes

Bullfrog Films is a major US publisher of DVDs and videos about the environment. ‘Environment’ is defined broadly and the collection includes programmes on ecology, energy, agriculture, indigenous peoples, women’s studies, genetics, marine biology, sustainable development, community regeneration, economics, ethics, and conflict resolution. In recent years they have released many films about developing countries, globalisation, changing gender roles and human rights. Styles range from animation to drama and from personal essay to investigative documentary. Bullfrog also distributes the performing arts films from Rhombus Media.