CINECITTÀ ITALIAN DOC SEASON: FOOD FOR PROFIT

An unbalanced view of important points

Copyright: Pueblo Unido

Spoilers for Food for Profit (2024). The film will screen as part of the Cinecittà Italian Doc Season, taking place at London's Bertha DocHouse later this month (20-21 July)

In the interest of transparency, I’ll admit to a certain level of bias going into this film. I grew up on a UK farm, the son of a contractor who works for livestock farmers. Outside of my film work, I write full time for an agricultural publication.

While you could argue that I’m ill-equipped to review this film, I would say I’m in the perfect position. My role as a journalist means that I’m fully aware of the changes that farmers need to make, not only to meet environmental targets but to ensure their jobs in the future. However, I’m also close enough to the subject to understand that many circumstances are beyond their control.

Now, this should not be read as an attempt to discredit the shocking images of animal abuse within this film. There is truly no excuse for this, but filmmakers Pablo D'Ambrosi and Giulia Innocenzi seem intent on tarring growers across Europe with the same brush. Documentaries don’t need to be balanced, as other films from the Cinecittà Italian Doc Season, can be personal stories. However, when you take on an industry, it’s vital to show some balance.

Innocenzi, as the focal point, seems insistent on portraying all farmers as the bad guys, but without the context of the wider industry. She tackles the farm managers, and the political lobbyists working at Brussels, but never looks at the chain in the middle which sees farmer squeezed by supermarkets on pricing, who have continuously sold the idea of cheap food to the public.

Yes, we want our dairy, eggs and meat to be cheap, but we don’t want to see the consequences of cutting those prices.

And the style of the film does little to boost its credibility. Innocenzi meeting with undercover farm workers and lobbyists in the dead of the night to look over footage does little to boost the credibility of this, instead it comes across as poor reconstructions

Copyright: Pueblo Unido

It's a shame because some real issues are brought up here. There should be a level of oversight to ensure that public money isn’t given to farms that are abusing animals, and lobbyists should not have the power to protect the agri-food sector. But there seems to be very little interest here in offering solutions, or at least any solution that wouldn’t impact farming in general.

Directors: Pablo D'Ambrosi, Giulia Innocenzi