A Place at the Table

Last updated
A Place at the Table
A Place at the Table Poster.jpeg
Film's Official Poster
Directed byKristi Jacobson
Lori Silverbush
Produced byJulie Goldman
Ryan Harrington
Starring Jeff Bridges
Raj Patel
Tom Colicchio
Edited byMadeleine Gavin
Jean Tsien, A.C.E.
Andrea B. Scott
Music by The Civil Wars
T Bone Burnett
Production
company
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures
Release dates
  • January 22, 2012 (2012-01-22)(Sundance Film Festival)
  • March 1, 2013 (2013-03-01)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$231,378 [1]

A Place at the Table is a 2012 film produced by Lori Silverbush and Kristi Jacobson, with appearances by Jeff Bridges, Raj Patel, and chef Tom Colicchio. The film, concerning hunger in the United States, was released theatrically in the United States on March 1, 2013. [2] [3]

Contents

Production background

Participant Media is the entertainment company behind the film, and it is distributed by Magnolia Pictures. The Participant/Magnolia team is also responsible for the film Food, Inc. (2008). [2] The film was originally titled Finding North but the name was later changed to A Place at the Table.

Synopsis

As of 2012, about 50 million Americans were food insecure. This was approximately 1 in 6 of the overall population, with the proportion of children facing food insecurity even higher at about 1 in 4. One in every two children receive federal food assistance. [4] [5] The film sees directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush examine the issue of hunger in America, largely through the stories of three people suffering from food insecurity:

Other Americans struggling with hunger are also featured, including a cop whose monthly paychecks only leaves him enough money to buy food for two weeks, forcing him to use a food bank. [5] A Place at the Table shows how hunger poses serious economic, social, and cultural implications for the United States, and that the problem can be solved once and for all, if the American public decides – as they have in the past – that making healthy food available and affordable is in everyone's best interest.

Book release

There is also a companion book titled A Place at the Table: The Crisis of 49 Million Hungry Americans and How to Solve It, edited by Peter Pringle and published by Public Affairs. The book features contributions from Jeff Bridges, Ken Cook, Marion Nestle, Bill Shore, Joel Berg, Robert Egger, Janet Poppendieck, David Beckmann, Mariana Chilton, Tom Colicchio, Jennifer Harris, Andy Fisher, Kelly Meyer and directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush. [6]

Awards

The film was nominated for Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. [2] [7]

At the 2013 IDA Documentary Awards, the film received the Pare Lorentz Award, which recognizes films for model filmmaking while focusing on the use of the natural environment, and justice for all and the illumination of pressing social problems. [8]

Critical reception

The film has received positive reviews. As of October 2015, it has a 90% approval ratings from 61 professional reviews aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes. [9] The following are a few examples of critical response to the film:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunger</span> Sustained inability to eat sufficient food

In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the field of hunger relief, the term hunger is used in a sense that goes beyond the common desire for food that all humans experience, also known as an appetite. The most extreme form of hunger, when malnutrition is widespread, and when people have started dying of starvation through lack of access to sufficient, nutritious food, leads to a declaration of famine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food security</span> Measure of the availability and accessibility of food

Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender or religion is another element of food security. Similarly, household food security is considered to exist when all the members of a family, at all times, have access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Individuals who are food-secure do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Food security includes resilience to future disruptions of food supply. Such a disruption could occur due to various risk factors such as droughts and floods, shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability, and wars. Food insecurity is the opposite of food security: a state where there is only limited or uncertain availability of suitable food.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</span> United States government food assistance program

In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal government program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income persons to help them maintain adequate nutrition and health. It is a federal aid program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), though benefits are distributed by specific departments of U.S. states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Colicchio</span> American celebrity chef (born 1962)

Thomas Patrick Colicchio is an American celebrity chef. He co-founded the Gramercy Tavern in New York City, and formerly served as a co-owner and as the executive chef. He is also the founder of Crafted Hospitality, which includes Craft, Temple Court (NYC), Craftsteak and Small Batch restaurants. Colicchio is the recipient of five James Beard Foundation Awards for cooking accomplishments.

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Participant Media, LLC was an American independent film and television production company founded in 2004 by Jeffrey Skoll, dedicated to entertainment intended to spur social change. The company financed and co-produced film and television content, as well as digital entertainment through its subsidiary SoulPancake, which the company acquired in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Jacobson</span> American film studio executive

Nina Jacobson is an American film executive who, until July 2006, was president of the Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. With Dawn Steel, Gail Berman and Sherry Lansing, she was one of the last of a handful of women to head a Hollywood film studio since the 1980s. She established her own production company called Color Force in 2007, and was the producer of The Hunger Games film series.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunger in the United States</span> Food insecurity

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References

  1. "A Place at the Table". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "A Place at the Table". IMDb.com. 1 March 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  3. "A Place at the Table Trailer, News, Videos, and Reviews | ComingSoon.net". Archived from the original on 2013-12-14. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  4. William A Dando, ed. (2012). "Food Assistance Landscapes in the United States by Andrew Walters". Food and Famine in the 21st Century. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   978-1598847307.
  5. 1 2 Patrick Butler (2013-05-08). "Food poverty: The American Way". The Guardian . Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  6. ""A Place at the Table" companion book". Archived from the original on 20 February 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  7. "A Place At the Table". Indiewire.com. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  8. "2013 IDA Documentary Awards Winners". International Documentary Association. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  9. "A Place at the Table". Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  10. "Sundance 2012: 'Finding North' looks at hunger in America". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  11. "Sundance London: Finding North, The O2". Standard.co.uk. 27 April 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  12. Klymkiw, Greg (19 April 2012). "The Film Corner with Greg Klymkiw: FINDING NORTH - Review By Greg Klymkiw - Toronto Hot Docs Film Festival 2012 - Must-See #4". Klymkiwfilmcorner.blogspot.com. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  13. Anderson, John (24 January 2012). "Finding North". Variety.com. Retrieved 20 December 2021.