King Corn (2007)

King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from ... See full summary »

Director:

Aaron Woolf

Writers:

Aaron Woolf, Ian Cheney,

Stars:

Bob Bledsoe, Earl L. Butz, Dawn Cheney

Cast

Credited cast:
Bob Bledsoe	...	Himself - Bledsoe Cattle Company
Earl L. Butz	...	Himself - Former Secretary of Agriculture (as Earl Butz)
Dawn Cheney	...	Herself - Relative
Ian Cheney	...	Himself
Don Clikeman	...	Himself - Farmer
Elna Clikeman	...	Herself - Farmer
Ken Cook	...	Himself - Environmental Working Group
Loren Cordain	...	Himself - University of Colorado
Curt Ellis	...	Himself
Audrae Erickson	...	Herself - Corn Refiners Association
Dean Jarrett	...	Himself - Cattle Rancher
Sue Jarrett	...	Herself - Cattle Rancher
Rich Johnson	...	Himself - Farmer
Farida Khan	...	Herself - Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn
Steve Macko	...	Himself - University of Virginia

Storyline

King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized 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

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Plot Keywords:

corn | food | iowa | farm | food industry | 

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Taglines:

You are what you eat

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 2009 (Japan)

Filming Locations:

Greene, Iowa, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$6,753 (USA) (12 October 2007)

Gross:

$81,368 (USA) (30 November 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ITVS, Mosaic Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Color:

Color (HDCAM) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

[last lines]
Curt Ellis: We are wondering if there's anyway you'd let us try and raise the money to actually buy that acre.
Pyatt: Ah ha ha ha. You guys, you're gonna starve this country.

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Connections

Referenced in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.9 (2011)

User Reviews

To the commenter above

The film did not demonize corn as a species. It demonized the particular strain of highly selected and genetically modified corn that we use for high fructose corn syrup and cattle feed, a type of corn that requires intensive fertilization and herbicide regimens, and which actually kills off other strains of corn such as the sweet corn we all love eating at a summer barbecue. Also, cows are ruminants, which means that they have basic, low-acidity stomachs, evolved to digest grass. In order for them to digest the starchy kernels from corn, the acidity of their stomachs have to be artificially increased, causing myriad health problems for them which can only be remedied using antibiotics and hormones. This also makes them vulnerable to diseases that threaten us. It is absolutely naive to think this doesn't impact our health. Finally, the "Harvard professor" you refer to is Michael Pollan, a UC Berkeley professor. He is the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, a book perhaps you should consider reading if you value facts so much. I think it is you who have not carefully understood the information presented by this film.