ROBERT KENNER'S FOOD STORY

Robert Kenner is an award winning documentary filmmaker (Two Days in October) who teamed up with Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) and Participant Media (An Inconvenient Truth) to expose and help reform America's increasingly dangerous system of industrial food production in FOOD, INC.

SO WHAT ABOUT MEAT...I TOLD MY FRIENDS THAT AFTER YOU SEE THIS FILM YOU'LL RETHINK THE FLESH.

It's more that the whole system has gone crazy.  Everything. The tomato as much as the meat.  Listen we should all be eating less meat for a number of reasons, for our own health, for the planet but it's everything.  Everyone has that response and I'm thinking, it's not that I think that meat is bad, it's just how it's produced.

MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE THE PARTS OF THE FILM THAT SHOW THE CONDITIONS OF ANIMALS ARE SO HORRIFYING.

I cared as much about the workers actually but it's a system that's gone crazy.  It's a system that has become very dehumanized and more than anything that these corporations have such power and such control that they will do anything to stop you from knowing how your food is grown, what's in your food and even from talking about it.  

It's as much a film about 1st amendment rights as it is about food which was the ultimate shock.  It's this sort of Orwellian nightmare that they have maintained this illusion that this food is the same as it's ever been, when in fact it's fundamentally different.  It's changed without us noticing and with billions of dollars to keep us ignorant.  That's what's so scary and that they've been able to create laws to stop us from talking about it.  

SO YOU WERE SURPRISED...REALLY?

Well, I read The Jungle (Sinclair Lewis, 1906). In that case it was horrible but Teddy Roosevelt comes to power and we start to break down the trusts, and things really did improve but the fact that we've gone right back to the same system and that it has failed us again is incredible.

DEREGULATION…

I was in Washington with Barb Kowalchek, and she was on a panel (this didn't make it into the film) and one of the heads of the FDA was saying we think corporations are going to be much better at policing themselves than the government.  I just saw Barb's face contort with pain knowing that these corporations didn't pull the meat off the shelves that killed her son, because it wasn't in their interest and the government didn't have the right to do it.  To me that is unimaginable.  It's un-American.

One of the most shocking things for me was going with Eric to Sacramento where he was saying, "shouldn't we label cloned meat?"  and the woman from the meat industry's response being "we think it will be too confusing to the consumer."  That's typical of so many things that you find in this world, whether it's GMOs or country of origin labeling.  These companies will do everything to keep you from knowing what's in the food and where it comes from.  That shocked me.  I didn't realize the power they had and it was just amazing to think.  It seemed un-American, I thought that as Americans we were supposed to have the right to choose.  

I met a rancher (he's not in the film), he said, "Look, when I was growing up we were always taught that in the Soviet Union you didn't have the right to choose and that was always the scariest thing.  What happens if they take us over we'll be like them.   And it's happened."  Here we are where there are just a few corporations.  There's this guise that we have thousands of products but they're all owned by a few companies even though they have all of these thousands of different labels.  And they're all basically made from the same products whether it's corn or soy and these products are making us sick.  This low cost food is coming to us at such a high cost. 

I kind of knew that before but going to that town in Baldwin Park where when you asked all the kids in the park if they knew someone with Diabetes, every one of them knew 1 or 2 or 3.  When I told them I didn't know one person with Diabetes they did not believe me, they couldn't fathom it.  One out of every 3 Americans born after 2000 and 1 out of every 2 non-whites will have early onset Diabetes and that will bankrupt our health care system.  So that shows you that there is this cost and we don't see it, it's hidden, that's what so interesting because it's all about hidden things.

THAT'S WHAT'S ALWAYS SURPRISING TO ME ABOUT THE GREEDY CAPITALIST MODEL, IT'S SO SHORT SIGHTED...TAKE THE BANKING INDUSTRY AND THEIR BELIEF THAT HOUSING PRICES WOULD JUST KEEP GOING UP.

The fact is, these companies want to sell food even if it makes you sick and they lose customers.  They think so short term, it's not good capitalism.

IT DOES SEEM LIKE THE QUESTION WE'RE FACED WITH NOW IS HOW DO YOU DO GOOD CAPITALISM.

I included Wal-Mart in the film which I've taken some hits for.  First of all, after having been denied access to hundreds of corporations, and having chased Wal-Mart for years, when they came in at the very last second, I was wondering how to even fit them into the story.  But at least to have one company that was finally ready to talk seemed like a good idea.

Wal-Mart is responsible for the industrialization of the food system as much as any corporation.  I thought what was interesting was twofold: first, at least here's a corporation that's ready to speak; but second, to show the power of the consumer.  Obviously you could go after Wal-Mart for a number of things.

THEY'VE GOT SOME LABOR PROBLEMS…

Generally the labor issues...it's not my film.  Though, on some level...Michal Pollan was saying well it is on the level that...well we had some good debates.

FOR ME IT'S NOT A QUESTION OF WHY YOU INCLUDED IT BUT RATHER WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE STONEYFIELD FARM GUY'S ARGUMENT.  I KNOW A LOT OF THESE ORGANIC FOOD COMPANIES HAVE NOW SOLD TO THE BIG PLAYERS LIKE CON AGRA AND I WONDER HOW PEOPLE LIKE GARY HIRSHBERG  FEEL ABOUT ALL OF WALMARTS OTHER OFFENSES, THE WAY THEY TREAT THEIR WORKERS ETC.

Wal-Mart is the inverse Henry Ford model.  With Ford you pay people enough so that they can afford your product.  With Wal-Mart and McDonalds, you pay people so little that they have to buy this cheap, unhealthy product.  

For me, rightly or wrongly, we are denied access by so many corporations and I didn't want it to seem as if we were against every corporation, and I wanted to show that we get to vote 3 times a day and that we do have some say and that we can help encourage better voting.

Troy, an industrial farmer who has a great brain and who is using Monsanto products said at one point he grew 5 acres of tomatoes by mistake and was fined $21,000 by the corporation.  That's how serious this is.  He was in court  fighting them.  But he's forced to use their product and he says to me, "If you the consumers can get to me and encourage me to grow  healthy food, that's what I want to do. Do you think I like growing this food?  It makes me sick.  But that's the market."   We need to change what people want to buy.   

WHAT'S YOUR STRATEGY FOR THIS FILM?  HOW DOES THIS FILM CHANGE THAT?

Well, I'm just a filmmaker.  

BUT YOU'RE A FILMMAKER ACTIVIST RIGHT?

But I didn't set out with an agenda, I'm not Michael Moore.  I didn't set out to prove a point.  I set out to investigate.  

BUT YOU DID PROVE A POINT?

Well I had no choice.  Agribusiness put up this wall.  They made me realize how scary this world was.  Wal-Mart at least came to talk, Gary certainly came to talk whatever you think of it.  The fact is it's part of consolidation, ultimately, but he's talking and on some levels that's valuable.  It's when people only want to control the argument is when it gets scary.  

These companies that refuse to talk now are taking out websites because they want their controlled message heard.  We begged them to talk to us and I'm attacked because I'm too nice to Wal-Mart, but these companies should learn from Wal-Mart, better to talk than not talk.

WHAT TO DO YOU SEE HAPPENING WITH THE FILM?

Ultimately I hope it's an empowering experience.  We can change this system.  Tobacco is a great model.  Here was one of the richest industries that was as connected to government as any industry we had that ultimately was putting out absolutely false information about the quality and safety of their product.  We changed that and we defeated them.  There are great similarities to the food industry.  We have to understand that we can change this industry.  And we have to change this industry because this low cost food is going to be way to expensive.  It's false capitalism: they're not paying the real price and they're getting away with murder, on many levels.

It's absolute exploitation.  The connecting of the dots all the way across, we exploit people: it's terrible about the animals but what about the people? The earth, the water.  What about Barb Kowalchek's kid?  It's just that we think we can abuse, while some of us don't think about it.  The vast majority don't think.  We're so busy and it's hard to think about it, we're bombarded with...the internet age…

WE'RE BOMBARDED WITH DISTRACTIONS THAT'S AN ARGUMENT FROM LONG AGO, PROPAGANDA VIA MASS CULTURE EQUALS NOT KNOWING WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON...AND LET'S FACE IT HOLLYWOOD IS ALSO PART OF THE PROBLEM.

Yeah, Eric (Schlosser) said something to that effect the other day.  It's incredibly scary but I'm also starting to feel that there's really something out there.  I feel like I'm a spoke in a giant wheel.  There's Eric, there's Michael, there's Alice Waters.  But there's also Rosa, from Baldwin Park.  

I didn't want to make an elitist film.  If you're rich you can eat good food.  The fact is even if you're rich you're going to pay the price for people in Baldwin Park even if you don't care about people in Baldwin Park.  Even if you don't care about animals you're going to pay the price.  Out of your own self interest...I'm trying to appeal to people on whatever level to try and get them to change.  I didn't want to appeal to an audience that was already converted.  I really think it's bad to prove a point to people who already agree.  I hope this film appeals to the soccer mom in the midwest.

SO HOW DO YOU MARKET IT, HOW DO YOU MAKE SURE THE SOCCER MOM IN THE MIDWEST SEES IT.  

You do Good Morning America, you do Extra.   We're doing Colbert Report and Bill Maher (Politically Incorrect) and we're hoping to do middle america press.  To me the important part is getting out there and not only changing people's stomachs but changing people's minds.  That's where you get your rewards.  

ALSO, AWARENESS HAS MUSHROOMED WITH MICHAEL POLLAN AND ERIC SCHLOSSER.

I did a film in the Soviet Union and a woman told me that the reason for the collapse was because of environmental issues.  Ultimately mothers couldn't get good food for their children.  I think it's mothers who lead the battle.  It's like Rosa Parks sitting in the back, it's the quiet person who changes things.

IT'S A COMBINATION THOUGH, YOU NEED THE RADICALS, THE BOMB THROWERS, YOU NEED EVERYBODY.

It's elitist to be selling people food that makes people sick.  People say it's elitist to think that everybody can have good organic local food because it's more expensive.  But the food we're serving now that's cheap at the takeout counter is too expensive and is going to cost us all a lot of money.  There are many spokes to the wheel, some more radical, some more conservative and it's going to take them all to change things.

We showed this film to Vilsack and other members of Congress and we're going back next week to show it to members of the Senate.  I think one of the things we're saying is we can't do it all, we need to follow a movement.  We need to create a movement but like it or not, Michele Obama is now a part of that movement because she has the audacity to have an organic garden.  Chemical companies are saying it's dangerous.  She's now being attacked for growing a garden without chemicals.  

COULD WE JUST GET RID OF MONSANTO PLEASE?

Well, we screened in San Francisco and now lawyers who were at the screening who work for the government were saying they'd like to figure out how to be a part of this and enforce anti-monopoly laws.  Hopefully it will open a lot of eyes.

What I like about films is you have humor, you have emotion, you can't cover things in as much detail as Eric or Michael can in books but you can move people in a way that might be stronger.

LOOK, I'M DEVOTED TO CINEMA.

I'm going to these festivals, watching films with my wife thinking, I love movies, they're so powerful.   I didn't go to school because I'd sneak out to art movie houses and watch movies all the time.  At the moment movies are the language that speak to people.

ARE YOU GOING TO SHOW THIS IN SCHOOLS?

The first prong is theatrical release.  If you get as lucky as An Inconvenient Truth, well.  Right now we're in the business pages and the op-ed pages and obviously in the theatrical sections.  But if you have a good weekend and a good week, you'll start to get covered more widely, so that's a fantasy.

But separately, working with Participant Media who produced An Inconvenient Truth, their social outreach program is very important.  It's not only making a commercial movie, it's changing lives.  They're out there with their takepart.com and I've got RobertKennerfilms.com and there are numbers of websites that list groups, that you can go to and you can become part of.  It's confusing to try and figure out what to do, how to be part of a movement.  There are some great groups out there and hopefully we can help strengthen them.  So not only should you be conscious when you go shopping, not only should you read labels and go to farmer's markets and encourage good food by voting 3 times a day with breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We should figure out ways of creating an even playing field where the broccoli and the carrots have the same chance as fast food or cereals that are being subsidized and making us sick.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE RECENT SWINE FLU OUTBREAK?  I  IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT ABOUT THIS FILM.

I actually made a film about influenza, I was even asked to go on Nightline and discuss swine flu but I didn't want to be an expert.  I also didn't just want to show the animal images because I didn't think it would make people want to see the film.  

There are rumors, more than rumors actually, that one of the ways that this started was at Smithfield (Farms) in Mexico.  The fact of the matter Food Inc. is about food in America but also food all over the world.  Smithfield is in Mexico, in Romania and there was even an outbreak of some disease in Romania where Smithfield wouldn't let the government onto their property.  They have that much power.  Whether it was directly connected to this particular swine flu, we don't know 100% but I can say categorically these CAFOs are vectors for diseases.  So that we know, we have created a very unhealthy food system in a number of ways, multiple ways.  Obviously when you get thousands of animals living in their own excrement, being fed antibiotics that are going to be harmful to us in many ways, there are a multitude of problems that evolve.  Listen on  one level, we're eating food cheaper than in any time in history, but it is also the invisible costs which are staggering.  The other thing that is really important to know is that this system is not sustainable, it's going to fall off of a cliff.  It's gasoline based and it's polluting the earth.  We need to planning for an alternative system.

FOOD, INC. opens June 5th nationwide.