Taking aim at junk food

Faerie Films founder Jennifer Mattox was extremely popular in college, partially due to the stock of frozen hamburgers she and her friends nipped from the commissary.

“I was the one in my dorm room who had the mini fridge,” Mattox said.

Often an “emotional eater” in college, Mattox consumed large quantities of junk food and often ate multiple dinners, between the dorm and her sorority home.

Mattox, who now resembles a lithe yoga instructor, looks back with embarrassment at what was a typical college experience for many.

She has just released her company’s first feature film, “All Jacked Up,” about the lies she says are spoon-fed to kids by the food industry.

Mattox founded Faerie Films in 2004, when she felt she was at a crossroads in her career.

“It was really one of those soul-searching moments,” film producer Doug Clemons said.

Mattox wanted to make an impact, not just pay her bills. But she needed an effective way to declare her stance on current issues and affect viewers, primarily youth.

“I thought, ‘I have got to take this into my own hands,’” she said. “Those are the ones who are going to make changes in the world.”

Her background in marketing and publicity, and a degree in journalism, meshed well with the business development background of Clemons, who joined the company the following year. They worked together on commercials, training videos and other projects before tackling “All Jacked Up.”

After about a year of raising capital, their budget was covered in November 2006.

Nine months later, their film was complete.

“It was like having a baby,” Mattox said.

The reality-style film tackles four issues: fast food, obesity, eating disorders and soft drinks.

“I was really inspired when Morgan Spurlock did ‘Super Size Me,’” Mattox said.

Expert opinions are interwoven between the stories of four youth, each of whom was emblematic of one of the above issues.

A younger host, called a “curious narrator” by Clemons, presides over the film.

The teens were found through Craigslist casting calls.

“The first kid that we interviewed was always the right one,” Clemons said.

“That all fell into place just instantly,” Mattox said.

About 300 hours of footage was filmed for a 110-minute movie, which leaves viewers with the opportunity to reflect and a website to get further information.

“We really wanted a solution-oriented film,” Mattox said.

The film takes a documentary-style stance but intersperses short cartoons throughout for young attention spans, rather than endless talking heads spouting theory, Clemons said.

“There’s no 15-year-old in the world who will sit through that,” he said.

In “All Jacked Up,” messages aren’t overt; kids use their own deductive reasoning to form their own conclusions, he said.

Rather than focus on the supply side of the equation — the meat industry, or school lunch providers — the film tries to affect demand.

The goal was for viewers to become suspicious and upset about the way they are treated like gullible statistics with ATM cards.

“They won’t act unless they’re angry,” Clemons said. “Question authority, please. They are knowingly profiting from your bad health.”

Mothers who saw the film found it lacking in detailed information; kids gobbled it up, and participated in discussions afterward.

The film is currently being screened at theatres nationwide and film festivals, but copies of the DVD are available at the company’s website. About 20% of the purchases have been from viewers from around the world.

For more information, visit alljackedupmovie.com.

CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (949) 494-5480 or at [email protected].