King Corn (film)

King Corn
King Corn theatrical poster
Directed by	Aaron Woolf
Produced by	Aaron Woolf
Written by	Ian Cheney Curtis Ellis Jeffrey K. Miller Aaron Woolf
Starring	Ian Cheney Curtis Ellis Michael Pollan Stephen Macko Earl Butz
Distributed by	Balcony Releasing
Release date(s)	October 12, 2007
Language	English

King Corn is a feature documentary film released in October 2007 following college friends Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis (directed by Aaron Woolf) as they move from Boston to Greene, Iowa to grow and farm an acre of corn. In the process, Cheney and Ellis examine the role that the increasing production of corn has had for American society, spotlighting the role of government subsidies in encouraging the huge amount of corn grown.

The film shows how the perception of industrialization in corn has all but eliminated the image of the family farm, which is being replaced by larger industrial farms. Cheney and Ellis suggest that this trend reflects a larger industrialization of the North American food system. As was outlined in the film, decisions relating to what crops are grown and how they are grown are based on government manipulated economic considerations rather than their true economic, environmental, or social ramifications. This is demonstrated in the film by the production of high fructose corn syrup, an ingredient found in many cheap food products, such as fast food.

Critical reception

King Corn received generally positive reviews. The film earned a review score of 70 from the review aggregate site Metacritic (based on 15 reviews). Rotten Tomatoes awarded the film a score of 95% (based on 20 reviews).

See also

• Food, Inc. – another documentary about the food industry

External links

• Official website
• King Corn at the Internet Movie Database
• King Corn site for Independent Lens on PBS
• King Corn at AllRovi
• King Corn at Rotten Tomatoes