Crew & Credits


Director: Adam Forrester

Producer: Palmer Wallace

Associate Producers: Emily Wirt, Maressa Michalek, Anonymous

Director of Photography: Adam Forrester

Editor: Jeff Jay

Sound Design: Billy Wirasnik

Composers: Laura Camacho, Clay Jordan, Suny Lyons, Alistair Paxton, Ryan Peoples

Developed with the Support of: The Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, the University of Georgia

Produced with the Support of: The Bitter Southerner


Run Time: 37:35

 

In December of 2013, The Bitter Southerner ran a story on a young Alabama filmmaker named Adam Forrester and his quest to make a documentary about the practice of geophagy in the South. What is geophagy? It’s the practice of eating dirt, and it’s been documented throughout human history and across societies around the globe. It has even been noted in birds and all sorts of mammals, herbivores and omnivores alike.

But the practice of geophagy — specifically eating the white clay known as kaolin — has for a long time been yet another cue for people to make fun of Southerners, as our 2013 story documented.

Forrester’s finished film, “Eat White Dirt,” explores all the issues surrounding geophagy. The film is currently making the film festival rounds. This Sunday, in fact, you BS folks in Mobile, Alabama, will have an opportunity to catch a screening at the Hurricane Film Festival.

We’re really proud The Bitter Southerner was able to play a small role in helping Adam Forrester finish his film, and pleased as punch to be the only online venue in which you can view the final documentary in its full and completed form.