A Place at the Table

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). The film was originally titled Finding North but the name was later changed to A Place at the Table.

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.{{cite book

|editor= William A Dando

|title=Food and Famine in the 21st Century

|chapter = Food Assistance Landscapes in the United States by Andrew Walters

|year=2012

|isbn= 978-1598847307

|publisher = ABC-CLIO}}{{Cite news

|url= https://www.theguardian.com/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2013/may/08/food-poverty-american-way-foodbanks-charity

|title= Food poverty: The American Way

|newspaper= The Guardian

|author= Patrick Butler

|date = 2013-05-08

|access-date=2013-06-09}}

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:

• Barbie, a single Philadelphia mother who grew up in poverty and is trying to provide a better life for her two children.
• Rosie, a Colorado fifth-grader who often has to depend on friends and neighbors to feed her and has trouble concentrating in school.
• Tremonica, a Mississippi second-grader whose asthma and health problems are exacerbated by the largely-empty calories her hard-working mother can afford.

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.

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.

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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.takepart.com/place-at-the-table/book|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130220003455/http://www.takepart.com/place-at-the-table/book|url-status=dead|title="A Place at the Table" companion book|archive-date=20 February 2013|access-date=20 December 2021}}

The film was nominated for Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/film/a-place-at-the-table/|title=A Place At the Table|website=Indiewire.com|date=11 May 2016|access-date=20 December 2021}}

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.{{cite web|title=2013 IDA Documentary Awards Winners|url=http://www.documentary.org/awards2013#nominees|publisher=International Documentary Association|access-date=9 December 2013}}

The film has received positive reviews. As of October 2015, it has a 90% approval ratings from 61 professional reviews aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_place_at_the_table_2013|title=A Place at the Table|access-date=20 December 2021|website=Rottentomatoes.com}} The following are a few examples of critical response to the film:

• "A Place at the Table forcefully makes the case that hunger has serious economic, social and cultural implications for the nation." - Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times{{Cite web|url=https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/01/sundance-2012-finding-north-looks-at-hunger-in-america.html|title=Sundance 2012: 'Finding North' looks at hunger in America|website=Latimesblogs.latimes.com|date=23 January 2012|access-date=20 December 2021}}
• "The film explains with devastating simplicity why so many go hungry in a country with more than enough food to go round." - London Evening Standard{{Cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/sundance-london-finding-north-the-o2-7684022.html|title=Sundance London: Finding North, The O2|date=27 April 2012|website=Standard.co.uk|access-date=20 December 2021}}
• "Beautifully shot and edited. The craft is of a very high level." - Toronto HotDocs Film Festival "Must See List"{{Cite web|url=https://klymkiwfilmcorner.blogspot.com/2012/04/finding-north-review-by-greg-klymkiw.html|title=The Film Corner with Greg Klymkiw: FINDING NORTH - Review By Greg Klymkiw - Toronto Hot Docs Film Festival 2012 - Must-See #4|first=Greg|last=Klymkiw|website=Klymkiwfilmcorner.blogspot.com|date=19 April 2012|access-date=20 December 2021}}
• "A Place at the Table is an engaging and enraging movie that will enlist supporters for its cause." - Variety{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2012/film/markets-festivals/finding-north-1117946914/|title=Finding North|first=John|last=Anderson|website=Variety.com|date=24 January 2012|access-date=20 December 2021}}

{{portal|Film|Food}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
• Bananas!*
• Chew on This, an adaptation of Fast Food Nation for younger readers
• Eating Animals
• Fast Food Nation
• Food Matters
• Food, Inc.
• Forks Over Knives
• Fresh
• King Corn
• Million Calorie March: The Movie
• Our Daily Bread
• Super Size Me
• Taste the Waste
• The Future of Food
• The Jungle
• The Omnivore's Dilemma
• We Feed the World

{{div col end}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|http://takepart.com/table}}
• {{IMDb title|1736049|A Place at the Table}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130128193752/http://www.participantmedia.com/pm-films/a-place-at-the-table/ Participant Media]
• [http://www.magpictures.com/profile.aspx?id=e016f484-4c9a-4401-8fbc-e19eb2119389 Magnolia Pictures]

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Category:2012 films

Category:2012 documentary films

Category:American documentary films

Category:Documentary films about food and drink

Category:Documentary films about poverty in the United States

Category:Films scored by T Bone Burnett

Category:Hunger

Category:Participant (company) films

Category:2010s English-language films

Category:2010s American films

Category:English-language documentary films