Oddball Films presents Watch What You Eat, a program of witty and thought-provoking short films that will make you rethink your next meal. The program features the Oddball Premiere of a new short documentary The Trouble with Bread (2013) chronicling filmmaker Maggie Biedelman's quest to uncover the truth behind the new epidemic of gluten intolerance. The filmmaker will be here, in person to answer your burning bread questions. Then, our neighbors to the North try to uncover a mystery, the Mystery in the Kitchen (1958) with the housewife's guide to proper family nutrition and poison control in the family meal. Comedian Marshall Efron hits us with a double dose of food truths as he mixes up a pie out of chemicals in Chemical Feast (1973) and gives us the lowdown on your breakfast "foods" in The Sugar Cereal Imitation Orange Breakfast (1973). Creepy little boys and girls sing about the foods they'd like to eat in The Eating, Feel Good Movie (1974). Visit a commune farm and a local market to learn about Surviving the Chemical Feast (1975). Plus, the cartoon Junk Food Man (1977) that combines drawn animation with photographic collage to teach nutrition with the snack-pusher "The Creep." With vintage commercials and more surprises to sink your teeth into!
Date: Thursday, June 13th, 2013 at 8:00PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Featuring:
The Trouble With Bread (Color, 2013, Maggie Beidelman)
This short documentary takes us on a journey with the filmmaker as she hunts to find the answers to her apparent gluten intolerance: what could have possibly changed in the last couple of generations that so many people have been complaining of not being able to eat wheat? Maggie Beidelman takes us from farm to mill to bakery, with some surprising findings about the nature of the modern wheat industry. We're far beyond the 10,000-year-old flour-water-salt recipe, folks. Modern bread is not what you think. Featuring interviews with author Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma) and Tartine Bakery's chef-owner Chad Robertson.
Click here to watch the trailer.
Mystery in the Kitchen (Color, 1958)
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, this soft-boiled film aimed at housewives uses satire and humor to teach proper nutrition and good eating habits by pointing out the subtle poisons you may be subjecting your family to. A well-dressed dapper man slinks around the kitchen and pantry, lecturing a long-suffering mother on how she is responsible for her family's personality problems by denying them nutrients. Beautiful color mid-century domestic scenes from our neighbors to the North.
The Sugar Cereal Imitation Orange Breakfast (Color, 1973)
As explained by the film can insert: “Comedian Marshall Efron, in boy’s cap and sweater gives some inside tips to other kids on how to manipulate Mom into buying those television advertised, heavily frosted, super-sugar, breakfast cereals- which unfortunately are low in nutrition and bad for the teeth. Then, turning his humor to a display of imitation orange juice products, Effron examines brand name concentrates, liquids and powders which variously contain water, sugar, chemicals, additives, and sometimes orange juice!”
Chemical Feast (Color, 1973)
Join our host Marshall Efron again in another satirical look at today’s (or the 1970s) modern foods. Chef Effron cooks up a big ‘ol meal of slop based on the ingredients found in some common pre-packaged, heavily processed miracle ‘foods’. Pie never looked less delicious!
The Eating, Feel Good Movie (Color, 1974)
A musical laugh riot. Children dressed in their Sunday best have a sepia-toned tea party and begin to sing about the food groups over enticing shots of vintage food. One boy sings longily over a meaty montage "I'd like a roast or a chop or a steak or a stew so I'll have big strong muscles and I'll grow right too." A creepy campy masterpiece!
Food: Surviving the Chemical Feast (Color, 1975)
From the Coping With Tomorrow series, this film takes us on a journey through the daunting world of processed foods to a greener pasture where hippies browse the natural foods store and buy grains in bulk. Visit the commune farm (cultivated by shoeless long-hairs and naked babies, of course) and take a tour of the local market to see just what it is you’re buying when you pick up that cucumber and snap off a bite. Directed by Peter Thurling.
The Junk Food Man (Color, 1977)A funky little cartoon that combines cell-animation with cutouts of food advertisements to give children a taste of the damage they can do by over-snacking. "The Creep" travels around town in his snack food van (like a Dateline candy predator), passing out sweets and chips to eager children unaware of the effects of their poor food choices.
