BRINDISI – At the Empire “Food For Profit”, shock documentary. On Sunday 26 May, at 7 pm, the new film “Food for Profit” by Giulia Innocenzi and Paolo D’Ambrosi arrives at the Cinema Impero in Brindisi. Ticket €7 full price, €5 reduced. A journey that leads the viewer to confront the reality often hidden behind the production of meat, milk and eggs that, unaware and unaware, we consume daily.
The independent and investigative documentary with a cinematic approach “Food for Profit” became a phenomenon in just a few weeks thanks to word of mouth: it reached fourth place in the ranking of the most viewed films in Italy without a major distributor on the official circuits, but only with online screenings demand throughout Italy. The documentary film, the result of personal commitment and planned and prolonged research, takes us into the heart of a system that perpetuates intensive farming with the support of public funds, without considering the transfiguring impact that such practices generate on the environment and our health. The unsustainability of intensive farming, both from an environmental and ethical point of view, is now a well-known and consolidated fact. However, to date only a few have had the courage and ability to reveal such dark and controversial realities.
It is precisely for this reason that “Food for Profit” has become a case, continuing to arouse indignation and reflection even months after its release, last February 27th. The authors are guides on a journey through the distortions of the food industry, joined by a team of courageous activists who have brought the truth to light. The horrors of intensive farming are described, in which animals are treated as objects subservient to the sole purpose of producing as much meat and milk as possible, the environment is polluted and the risk of future pandemics is increasingly critical. But that’s not all: the documentary also reveals the close relationship between these harmful practices and political power, with lobbies influencing decisions in Brussels to the benefit of the meat industry. Using hidden cameras and undercover investigations, the film shows the raw and shocking reality of what happens behind the scenes. But it also highlights the disastrous consequences of this production model: water pollution, the exploitation of migrants employed in fields and farms, the loss of biodiversity and the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
In the European Union, antibiotic resistance causes 35 thousand deaths a year, a figure that reveals the urgency and gravity of the situation. All in the name of a system that favors the maximization of profits to the detriment of animal welfare, the environment and people’s health. According to “Food for Profit” agribusiness is widely represented in institutions through an army of lobbyists and MEPs who, as landowners, benefit from funds from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
«Actually Food for Profit – explained Giulia Innocenzi – it’s a super pro-European film that tries to goad Europe into doing what it set out to do. To become the first green continent in the world we should immediately eliminate public subsidies for intensive farming and move those hundreds of billions of euros towards a true ecological transition. There is a huge need for awareness and will and public opinion is shifting. An increasingly strong push from below is needed to force politicians to act».
The work is a call to awareness and action. The authors do not ask us to give up the pleasure of food but to find more sustainable and respectful ways to produce it. With its incisive narrative, the documentary manages to shake consciences by stimulating a debate essential for the future of our planet. The “Food for Profit” phenomenon is not limited to the simple documentary story but extends to a more complex reflection on transparency, ethics and sustainability. The docufilm is a valuable contribution to the public debate, a work which, through open language and in-depth analysis, calls for a profound revision of the industrial and political practices that regulate our agri-food system. The challenge launched by Innocenzi and D’Ambrosi is clear: it is time to radically rethink our approach to food production, to put respect for the environment and animal life at the center of our attention and to demand greater transparency from institutions and responsibility.
