Grocery stores around the country are filling their dumpsters with food. Not rotten, spoiled food, but billions of pounds of good, edible food. Why? Because the expiration date is nearing? Because it costs less to simply throw away excess food rather than do something helpful with it? Whatever the answer, the contradiction is profound: good, edible food is being thrown away in the very same communities where people are going hungry. Follow filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and his circle of friends as they “dumpster dive” in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of L.A.’s supermarkets. In the process, they uncover thousands of dollars worth of good food and an ugly truth about waste in America. Why aren’t grocery stores giving the food to people who need it? Seifert takes this question to corporate front offices in an attempt to find out. The result is equal parts entertainment, guerrilla journalism, and call to action. The power of the film lies in its ability to motivate: it will move you to question the manager at your supermarket, it will move you to learn about food waste and the role it plays in your community. In the end, you might even find yourself in a dumpster.
The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of South Arts.
