The Will to End World Hunger

By Lisa Hasko

It’s been 45 years since John F. Kennedy called for a global war on hunger. “We have the ability, as members of the human race, we have the means, we have the capacity to eliminate hunger from the face of the earth in our lifetime," he told the World Food Congress in June 1963. "We need only the will.”

We haven't found that will yet, because today the world faces its worst food crisis in recent memory. Dramatic increases in the price of commodities such as rice and wheat are "threatening to plunge more than 100 people into hunger," according to the latest from the UN's World Food Programme.

The media alerts us to the most dire food shortages and the occasional famine, but any aid worker will tell you that hunger is a persistent problem. Individuals, families and communities are continually at risk, and with so many factors contributing to the current rise in food prices, this "silent killer" is expected to grow more lethal.

Getting to the root causes of hunger isn't easy. But it’s important for us to learn what we can and discover ways to act. To that end, Film Connection has put together a collection of documentaries that examine both the causes of hunger and links in the global food chain.

For an overview, the documentary Silent Killer: The Unfinished Campaign to End World Hunger takes us from the dry cornfields of the Kalahari to the World Food Summit in Rome to spotlight the poor distribution and limited access to food that contribute to malnutrition and famine. In Life & Debt, we learn how international economic policies have negatively impacted the daily lives of Jamaican farmers and workers. And King Corn moves us closer to understanding the biofuel debate by letting us follow an acre of Iowa corn from seedlings to supermarket.

There are lots of ways to take informed action against world hunger. Mercy Corps' Action Center to End World Hunger and Global Envision websites offer news, conversation and ways to act, as does the Silent Killer site.

Watch, learn, act — and help muster the world's will to end hunger.

Films in the Program

King Corn

Two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation.

Slum Survivors

The stories of six people who live in Kibera and their remarkable courage in the face of extreme poverty.

Global Warming: The Signs and the Science

A documentary on the grave consequences of a changing climate.

RX For Survival: A Global Health Challenge

A documentary series from WGBH Boston, narrated by Brad Pitt, that explores today's most pressing global health questions.

Silent Killer

The unfinished campaign against hunger.

Life & Debt

A critical examination of the effects of economic globalization on Jamaican industry and agriculture.