Students for Compassionate Living, a student org at Calvin College, will host a film festival on Friday, January 20 at 8 pm at the Bytwerk Video Theater in Calvin’s DeVos Communication Center.

The centerpiece of the festival - titled Eating Well?: The Hidden Costs of Factory-Farmed Food - will be “Wegman’s Cruelty,” a documentary by Compassionate Consumers of Rochester, NY, that examines the conditions inside an industry-standard factory egg operation in upstate New York.

“An important part of our mission here at Calvin is to exercise compassion and good stewardship in our daily decision-making,” says Matt Halteman, faculty liaison for the student group.“

SCL was chartered in February 2005 and sponsors lectures, films, potlucks and more.

The upcoming film festival event is co-sponsored by

Farms Without Harm, a network of Michigan groups and citizens promoting safe sustainable farming

the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy, a local organization that uses media education as an organizing tool for social change

Uniting for Justice, a grassroots volunteer organization that promotes protection of the earth and compassion for its sentient beings through education and outreach



Also scheduled to be shown at the festival are “The True Cost of Food,” a cartoon short by The Sierra Club Consumption Committee, and “The Video the Egg Industry Doesn’t Want You to See” by Mercy For Animals in Columbus, Ohio.

Following the screening, there will be a discussion of the issues raised by the films, featuring Nathan Runkle, founder and executive director of Mercy for Animals; Nicole Matthews, founding member of Compassionate Consumers; and Gail Philbin, coordinator of Farms Without Harm.

“We want people attending this event to understand the importance of knowing where their food comes from,” says Philbin. “Films like these help consumers make informed choices about where to purchase their food.”