Presented with Big Muddy Urban Farm, a panel discussion will follow the film.
CHICKEN PEOPLE follows the trials and tribulations of competitors on the high stakes national chicken show circuit. Director Nicole Lucas Haimes told the American Film Institute about her inspiration for the film: “I began CHICKEN PEOPLE five years ago when my then-11-year-old son Lucas attended elementary school. For about 10 minutes, the boys in his class went wild for chickens, which I found odd given the urban nature of Los Angeles […] I nonetheless gifted [my son] a book of chicken portraits. As we thumbed through the book, we noted the exquisite feather patterns and how the chickens resembled a stack of fluffy snowballs or wildly ornamental hats, I spotted a brief mention that people compete with these birds. Like the Westminster Dog Show, but for chickens. That was it! I knew I had to make a film.”
But for Haimes, the film is more than a document of a quirky, underground hobby: “There is indeed something inherently funny about chickens, and people breeding and showing chickens seemed even funnier. Shortly thereafter, I filmed a chicken competition, created a presentation reel and began the arduous process of trying to finance a quirky documentary in an era of social issue filmmaking. As I made the movie, I discovered that the struggle our characters went through to find meaning and purpose in their lives elevates the film above just entertainment.”
Following the film will be a panel featuring local community experts in farming, city code, and animal husbandry including Shannon Kyler Gennardo, Community Garden Manager at City Sprouts; Candice Mills, Environmental Health Specialist for the Douglas County Health Department; Kate Bodmann, owner of Omaha Whole Living; and Tracy Jones, a local 4-H Club Leader. The panel will be moderated by Taylor Jespersen, current Farmer-in-Residence at Big Muddy Urban Farm.
— Diana Martinez, Film Streams Education Director
