Le Savant, l'imposteur et Staline - Comment nourrir le peuple

Two extraordinary human destinies, caught up in the implacable political machinery of the burgeoning Soviet Union of the 1920s, prey to famine. Based on hitherto unreleased archives, this incredible scientific controversy takes on its full significance at a time when the whole world is wondering how on Earth it can feed the people of tomorrow. Nikolai Vavilov was a botanical genius who travelled the world, accumulating a vast wealth of biodiversity. Trofim Lyssenko was a talented agronomist who claimed he could increase crop-yields through his pseudo inventions. In the young Soviet Union plagued by famine, they attempted to solve the problem haunting the communist authorities: how to feed the people. Vavilov, the genius, would die of hunger in a Stalinist prison, Lyssenko the pseudo inventor, ended up as president of the academy of sciences... (Point du Jour)