Hybrid: One Man's Passion for Corn

In a rather unusual form, where animations of crawling and mating corncobs alternate with meditative nature scenes, Hybrid tells the story of one mans obsession for hybrid corn. Using dry Midwestern wit, the film describes the sexuality of corn and delves deep into one family's complex relationships with an eccentric man who finds solace in the whispers of rustling cornfields.

This poetic opus says as much about the pragmatic spiritual values and emotional inhibitions of the American hinterland as it does about the archetypal Midwesterner, Milford Beeghly. Beeghly had a passion for developing hybrid corn and appeared on early black and white television, hawking his daring new seed at a time when hybridization was considered a wicked kind of plant incest.

The film is in part a history of agricultural practices during the depression and a science lesson, explaining how corn procreates. Hybrid takes on a fuller resonance because of the current fears about the harm that might be done by genetically engineered crops. McCollum began this major study of American farm-belt culture (and it's loss) with an impetus to get to know his grandfather, the man who remained an enigma to his family for most of his life.

The film was 7 years in the making and is far from the realm of genteel biographical inquiry. It is a rigorously inventive work that defies classification whose images challenge accepted associations of light, sound and space. McCollum set out to understand what drove his grandfather and in the process he made a tremendous film that examines what work means to the soul: a topic that is particularly American.

Suitable for teaching American Studies, Agricultural Studies, Environmental Studies, Psychology, Sociology, Film Studies. Was featured on PBS as part of the P.O.V. series in 2002.