Hybrid

The American Milford Beeghly is considered one of the pioneers in the field of genetic manipulation of grains of corn. He set up his company in 1930 and performed a very thorough investigation of alternative ways of cross-breeding corn. The corn grain was his life. In his eyes, every single plant had its own personality. This inspired and somewhat peculiar man was absorbed in his work and experiments to such an extent that his family suffered. Looking back on her youth, one of his children explains that the corn grains were more important to his father than they were, ‘Father was able to communicate with the corn, but not with us.’ In a rather unusual form, in which animations of crawling and mating corncobs alternate with poetical nature scenes, the film tells the story of an extraordinary life, dedicated to the corn grain. (Catalogue International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam, 2000)