Image via Chicken City
Chicken City
A documentary film on chickens? If that sounds super-dull—like the time-killing middle school classroom material once screened by substitute teachers—think again. Milwaukee writer-director-producer Pam Percy’s Chicken City makes the history of her favorite fowl come to life with imaginative animation and storytelling.
Based on her extensively researched 2002 book, Chicken City traces the birds to their reptilian roots. The ancestor of the chicken emerged 7,000 years ago in the forests of Southeast Asia. They were first domesticated 3,500 years ago for cock fighting. The Chinese may have been the first culture to appreciate their culinary potential.
Chicken City is a collaborative effort. Claudia Looze coproduced, edited the film and secured rights for the music. Graphic artist Linsey Sieger created graphics for the film’s chicken narrators and Tony Wood animated them. Their ideas evolved in discussion. “We wanted to keep it light,” Percy says. “Teachers have told me it’s a great educational tool—they want to show it to their classes. It’s a different way of looking at history.”
Domesticated chickens moved from east to west across the world and came to the New World with European settlers. Until the urbanization and industrialization of the late 19th century multiplied the demand, tending chickens was, Percy says, “work for women and children. It’s where the term ‘egg money’ comes from. With the poultry industry, chickens were moved inside into controlled environments. It wasn’t fun being a chicken anymore.”
And with that industrialization comes problems for human consumption. “The avian flu—I was in Europe recently and chicken was barely on the menu because of avian flu. There is a market for organic, free-range chickens. Even big corporations are becoming more conscious of raising chickens in a more humane way.”
Chicken City traveled the circuit, winning Best Documentary at the New York Movie Awards and the Paris Film Awards and was an official selection at the International Gold Awards and the Florence Film Awards. Chicken City is streaming on Vudu, Amazon, Vimeo and Hoopla.
