Chattanooga Pulse

I must apologize for confusing you a few weeks ago about the opening of Food, Inc. here in Chattanooga.  The powers that be at Magnolia Pictures led me to believe the film would open at the Bijou on August 28 when it is actually opening this week as the first film in The Arts and Education Council’s Fall Independent Film Series.

Yes, it’s that time again—the time where you can walk down to the Bijou each weekend and be guaranteed a challenging piece of cinema.  If it’s not challenging, it will at least be different…and you may just be surprised at the things you can learn to love.
With the beautiful new movie theater opening on Broad Street soon, the AEC has been limited on film picks for this fall, but there are at least five planned so far including Food, Inc., Lorna’s Silence (the new film from the Dardenne brothers), and a rollicking British political satire called In the Loop.

On September 16, the acclaimed Sundance documentary The Horse Boy will start a one-week run.  Part travel adventure, part insight into shamanic tradition, but above all an intimate look at the mind of an autistic little boy, The Horse Boy is director Michael Orion Scott’s captivating look into a family where autism has seemingly snatched away the soul of a child.

Going green is all the rage now, but Earth Days (opening October 16) is a look back to the dawn of the American environmental movement.  “In all the contemporary agonizing about climate change,” says the film’s director, Robert Stone, “so much of the environmental movement’s past successes have been almost completely forgotten, particularly by young people, most of whom see their efforts at environmentalism as starting from scratch.”  Earth Days is an exciting attempt to give the environmental movement a sense of place.

This week, as you know, is Robert Kenner’s hit documentary Food, Inc., a harrowing and mostly untold look at the American food industry.  The film has served as a revelation for many Americans as it unveils how the majority of our food supply comes not from farmers concerned about the quality of their product but from industrial farms-turned-factories owned by a handful of money-hungry corporations.  It’s a story of capitalism gone awry and one where the conclusion affects every American.

Those not familiar with the mechanical, Orwellian way our country produces food may well be shocked by the film, but even more frightening is the way most farmers are afraid to talk about the problem they face daily in their lives and work.
“I understand why farmers don’t want to talk,” says Perdue chicken farmer Carole Morison, “because companies can do what it wants to do as far as pay goes because they control everything.  But…something has to be said.”

Kenner shows us Morison’s farm and the overwhelming reliance antibiotics and high-tech breeding.  A chicken that would normally grow into adulthood in three months is fed chemically soaked feed to jolt the growing process to only 45 days.  This may not result in a healthy chicken, but it does produce a chicken with unusually large breasts—and in many cases, this is all people are looking for.

Still, this upsets people farmers Carol Morrison and Food, Inc. is her story as well as the story of others like her, audacious folks who have refused to stand listlessly in their fields and deny the problem.  The emphasis of Food, Inc. is that the future of food in America is not in the hands of farmers, but firmly in the grasp of everyday consumers.

Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm has been taking proactive measures for years and confirms that farmers are more powerless than we think.  “The irony,” he says, “is that the average consumer does not feel very powerful. They think that they are the recipients of whatever industry has put there for them to consume.  Trust me, it’s the exact opposite.  Those businesses spend billions of dollars to tally our votes.  When we run an item past the supermarket scanner, we’re voting.”

To continue the conversation, the Main Street Farmers Market and 212 Market Street are sponsoring a panel discussion with local farmers directly after the first Sunday matinee showing of Food, Inc. In addition to the discussion, the market will provide samplings of local food and hors d’oeuvres, local-tomato Bloody Marys and melon drinks, and a full bar.  The event is free. For information, contact Trae Moore, (423) 322-5525.

Film can entertain, but it’s also one of the best ways to spark intelligent discussion about everyday life and the role we can play is making the world a better place.  Be sure to take advantage of the AEC Film Series and the upcoming opportunities to continue the conversation.

For more information about the fall Independent Film Series, visit www.artsedcouncil.org