King Corn

Release date: January 10, 2008 |

Almost everything Americans eat contains corn -- high fructose corn syrup, corn-fed meat, and corn-based processed foods are staples of the modern diet. Filmmaker Aaron Wolf will discuss the prevalence of corn in food products and the effect it has on the American diet prior to a viewing of his documentary King Corn, on Wednesday, February 20, in Kelley Lecture Hall. The discussion will begin at 7 p.m., to be followed immediately by the film.

There also will be a dessert reception after the flim screening, which is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Norman Zwagil, general manager of Bon Appétit Management Company, at nzwagil@cafebonappetit.com.

Wolf directed, co-wrote, and produced King Corn, a documentary about two college friends -- Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis -- who move to the Midwest to learn about their food's origins.

With the help of neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, Cheney and Ellis planted and grew a bumper crop of corn on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they tried to follow their corn into the food system, what they found raised questions about how Americans eat and farm.

King Corn was filmed throughout 2004 and 2005 in the rural town of Greene, Iowa, where Cheney and Ellis grew their corn. Wolf lived in Iowa with Cheney and Ellis, and the team traveled to 30 states and Mexico to follow the trail of their corn. 

Wolf, the founder of Mosaic Films Inc., also directed Greener Grass: Cuba; Baseball; and The United States, which won a Rockie Award and aired on PBS in 2000. In 2003, Wolf directed Dying to Leave: The Global Face of Human Trafficking and Smuggling, which won a Logie Award and aired on the PBS series Wide Angle.

Co-producers Cheney and Ellis met at Yale University. In college, they tried to reconnect students to their food by working to bring local foods into the dining halls and by taking incoming freshmen on orientation trips to organic farms. After graduation, they took a cross-country trip and learned how little they really knew about corn. With Ellis' cousin Wolf on board as director, the team moved to Iowa and started farming and filming in 2004.

This event is sponsored by Bon Appétit Management Company and the Campus Agriculture Co-op.