In an age of alternative facts, you'd at least like to know what's in your food. But as director Scott Hamilton Kennedy (Fame High) reveals in his newest documentary, Food Evolution, things aren't that simple. Navigating the debate surrounding GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and with narration from scientist/superstar Neil deGrasse Tyson, the film documents why the United States, along with the rest of the world, is so torn up about engineering our food.
The words "GMO debate" evoke images of a divided, white, middle-class America, and Food Evolution puts the issue into a larger context of a global scale. The film asserts that with few facts and unchecked fear, GMOs have been banned across the world. As a result, farmers in countries as distant as Kenya and South Africa are losing food sources to disease and face starvation and mass crop loss. As one farmer urges, "Americans, please be aware, be informed that whenever you say 'no' to GM technology, you are suppressing Africa."
Such debate, rife with misinformation and conflicting conclusions, is a haunting parallel to the state of our current administration, but Food Evolution is based in scientific fact. While the documentary unquestionably favors GMOs, Kennedy gives voice to both sides of the issue and includes interviews with GMO scientists as well as influential anti-GMO activists like Jefferey Smith and Zen Honeycutt. And though a documentary about GMOs could easily become dull, Food Evolution stays fresh and energetic, showing that, in the end, we all want the same thing: fresh, safe, sustainable food. It's just a question of how to get there. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, Food Evolution is a must-see. To know, to understand and to think critically about the future of food production is essential—quite literally a matter of life and death.
9
+ Engaging and challenging
- Not enough Neil deGrasse Tyson. Give us more!
Food Evolution
Directed by Kennedy
With Tyson, Honeycutt and Smith
Jean Cocteau Cinema,
NR,
92 min
