By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

“I don’t really know what to do. We tend to run out of food, and our tummies get really hungry and they growl,” said a young girl in a documentary on food insecurity.

“It is a problem that people are ashamed of acknowledging,” said actor Jeff Bridges who, as the founder of the End Hunger Network, participated in the 2012 documentary.

“If another country was doing this to our kids, we’d be at war,” Bridges said.

A Place at the Table is a thought-provoking, heart-wrenching, firsthand documentary on the hunger crisis in America.

The owners of the Magic Lantern in Bridgton plan to use the theater to show this documentary to the public as part of events scheduled for Hunger Action Month in September.

However, there is a licensing fee involved to rent the movie for this event.

According to CrossWalk Community Outreach Director Joanna Moore, the nonprofit has covered the licensing fee, but hopes that local businesses will step forward to reimburse that cost.

Statistics show that in 2012 one in six Americans suffers from hunger. Meanwhile, out of four children, one will go hungry or lack access to nutritious food.

According to the Webpage for ‘No Kid Hungry,’ one in five children — which correlates to 16.2 million children in the United States — experiences food insecurity. In many instances, families trying to stretch money and food stamp allowances opt for less expensive processed foods. This only adds to the hunger issue with children consuming food that lacks nutrition.

A group of community members who are involved in Hunger Action Month viewed two documentaries, Moore said.

A Place at the Table was selected because it had a higher impact level, she said. The other documentary was entitled Hunger in America.

A Place at the Table takes the viewer through the day-to-day experiences of three people. Celebrities from various walks of life comment on the hunger crisis. Music for the movie is performed by T Bone Burnett and The Civil Wars.

A Place at the Table won the Pare Lorentz Award for the directing and producing from the International Documentary Association in 2013. Also, in 2012, the movie was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

To see a trailer of ‘A Place at the Table,’ go to www.magpictures.com/aplaceatthetable. To get involved in Hunger Action Month or help sponsor the documentary, contact Joanna Moore, 615-3226.