Films

If you'd like to learn more about food, farming and animals, animal rights, welfare and speciesism, then a film/documentary is often one of the best ways to do this. If you find anything in any of these films difficult to watch, then in my opinion that's a good sign. This means the film has affected you and aroused compassion. It can also lead to anger against companies, governments and a society that has lied to you - but this is also a good thing.

It's better to know and to then make informed decisions about how you chose to live your life in the future. 

For those of you who have already seen some of these films and want to share them with others, please feel free to send the link for this page to them. The RIGHT films are a powerful way to help people connect with the truth.

Chantal xx

THE Gary Yourofsky Speach
Gary Yourofsky's entire inspirational speech held at Georgia Tech in summer of 2010. Listen to this amazing speaker who will blow away the myths, fill your mind with interesting facts, and help you make ethical choices for a healthy heart and soul. His charismatic and straightforward style is one of a kind - a must-see for anyone who cares about nonhuman animals or wishes to make the world a better place.


Planeat 

PLANEAT is the story of three men's life-long search for a diet, which is good for our health, good for the environment and good for the future of the planet. With an additional cast of pioneering chefs and some of the best cooking you have ever seen, the scientists and doctors in the film present a convincing case for the West to re-examine its love affair with meat and dairy. The film features the ground-breaking work of Dr. T Colin Campbell in China exploring the link between diet and disease, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's use of diet to treat heart disease patients, and Professor Gidon Eshel's investigations into how our food choices contribute to global warming, land use and oceanic deadzones.

With the help of some innovative farmers and chefs, PLANEAT shows how the problems we face today can be solved, without simply resorting to a diet of lentils and lettuce leaves.

Earthlings
EARTHLINGS is an award-winning documentary film about the suffering of animals for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research. Considered the most persuasive documentary ever made, EARTHLINGS is nicknamed “the Vegan maker” for its sensitive footage shot at animal shelters, pet stores, puppy mills, factory farms, slaughterhouses, the leather and fur trades, sporting events, circuses and research labs.
The film is narrated by Academy Award® nominee Joaquin Phoenix and features music by platinum-selling recording artist Moby. Initially ignored by distributors, today EARTHLINGS is considered the definitive animal rights film by organizations around the world. “Of all the films I have ever made, this is the one that gets people talking the most,” said Phoenix. “For every one person who sees EARTHLINGS, they will tell three.”
Deleted scenes from the film now released. ##caution - mature audiences only##
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHNomtLAbKU&feature=youtube_gdata_player


Speciesism: The Movie (coming soon)
In today's food production world, it's not uncommon for tens of thousands of animals to be crammed inside massive windowless sheds. This is considered "modern" factory farming. But what really happens behind these closed doors, and how can any human justify the cruelties involved in animal agriculture? In Speciesism: The Movie, Director Mark Devries takes viewers inside this hidden world while also exploring the human psyche to understand why our species chooses not to extend basic rights to all species.


The Ghosts in our Machine (to be released early 2013)
Director's statement:  'a journey of discovery into what is a complex social dilemma, one that needs to be considered morally significant. In essence, humans have cleverly categorized non-human animals into three parts: domesticated pets, wildlife, and the ones we don’t like to think about: the ghosts in our machine. What is revealed is collective cognitive dissonance: We value wildlife and our companion animals but not the billions of animals bred and used by global industries.
Through story, sound and picture I want people to see animals differently – to recognize their sentience: beauty, uniqueness and suffering – to leave the theatre in a reflective headspace.
As consumers we can all make a difference for the ghosts, each and everyday.



The Witness
How does a construction contractor from a tough Brooklyn neighborhood become an impassioned animal advocate? In the award-winning documentary THE WITNESS, Eddie Lama explains how he feared and avoided animals for most of his life, until the love of a kitten opened his heart, inspiring him to rescue abandoned animals and bring his message of compassion to the streets of New York. With humor and sincerity, Eddie tells the story of his remarkable change in consciousness. THE WITNESS has been an official selection in 32 film festivals where it has received eight awards for Best Documentary and two for Best of Festival.


Peaceable Kingdom
A riveting story of transformation and healing, PEACEABLE KINGDOM: THE JOURNEY HOME explores the awakening conscience of several people who grew up in traditional farming culture and who have now come to question the basic assumptions of their way of life. Presented through a woven tapestry of memories, music, and breathtaking accounts of life-altering moments, the film provides insight into the farmers' sometimes amazing connections with the animals under their care, while also making clear the complex web of social, psychological and economic forces that have led them to their present dilemma. Interwoven with the farmers' stories is the dramatic animal rescue work of a newly-trained humane police officer whose sense of justice puts her at odds with the law she is charged to uphold.
With strikingly honest interviews and rare footage demonstrating the emotional lives and intense family bonds of animals most often viewed as living commodities, this groundbreaking documentary shatters stereotypical notions of farmers, farm life, and perhaps most surprisingly, farm animals themselves.


Vegucated
Part sociological experiment and part adventure comedy, Vegucated follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks. Lured by tales of weight lost and health regained, they begin to uncover the hidden sides of animal agriculture that make them wonder whether solutions offered in films like Food, Inc. go far enough. This entertaining documentary showcases the rapid and at times comedic evolution of three people who discover they can change the world one bite at a time.


Forks Over Knives

FORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.
The major storyline traces the personal journeys of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a nutritional biochemist from Cornell University, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a former top surgeon at the world renowned Cleveland Clinic.  Inspired by remarkable discoveries they made, these men conducted several groundbreaking studies. Their separate research led them to the same startling conclusion: degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could almost always be prevented – and in many cases reversed – by adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet.

The idea of food as medicine is put to the test. Cameras follow “reality patients” who have chronic conditions from heart disease to diabetes. Doctors teach these patients how to adopt a whole foods plant-based diet as the primary approach to treat their ailments – while the challenges and triumphs of their journeys are revealed.
The film features leading experts on health and tackles the issue of diet and disease in a way that will have people talking for years.

Food Inc.
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.


The Cove
Academy Award® Winner for Best Documentary of 2009, THE COVE follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers as they embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Taiji, Japan, shining a light on a dark and deadly secret. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The result is a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery, adding up to an unforgettable story that has inspired audiences worldwide to action.


Blackfish
Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the creature’s extraordinary nature, the species’ cruel treatment in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the mulit-billion dollar sea-park industry.
This emotionally wrenching, tautly structured story challenges us to consider our relationship to nature and reveals how little we humans have learned from these highly intelligent and enormously sentient fellow mammals.



The End of the Line
The End of the Line, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans, showing first-hand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food.
It examines the imminent extinction of Bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.

Filmed over two years, The End of the Line follows the investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts politicians and celebrity restaurateurs, who exhibit little regard for the damage they are doing to the oceans. Scientists predict that if we continue fishing as we are now, we will see the end of most seafood by 2048. The End of the Line is a wake-up call to the world.



Supersize Me
Super Size Me is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003 during which he ate only McDonald's food. The film documents this lifestyle's drastic effect on Spurlock's physical and psychological well-being, and explores the fast food industry's corporate influence, including how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit. 


The Age Of Stupid 
The Age of Stupid stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as a man living in the devastated future world of 2055, looking back at old footage from our time and asking: why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?


Global Warming: Meat the Truth
 A high-profile documentary which forms an addendum to earlier films that have been made about climate change. Although such films have convincingly succeeded in drawing public attention to the issue of global warming, they have repeatedly ignored one of the most important causes of climate change, namely: intensive livestock production. Meat the Truth has drawn attention to this by demonstrating that livestock farming generates more greenhouse gas emissions worldwide than all cars, lorries, trains, boats and planes added together.


An Inconvenient Truth
I first saw this film in 2009 when I was on my honeymoon on a small island in the Maldives. It struck me as very sad at the time and the relevance of the island resort showing the film was that their very existince, income and way of life is threatened as sea levels rise and their beautiful islands are lost forever. Very poignant and something that should drive us all to live and eat more sustainably by following a vegan lifestyle.

An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate made in the film, he has given more than a thousand times.
The film won 2 Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song.
Since the film's release, An Inconvenient Truth has been credited for raising international public awareness of climate change and reenergizing the environmental movement. The documentary has also been included in science curricula in schools around the world, which has spurred some controversy.


Fast Food Nation
An ensemble piece examining the health risks involved in the fast food industry and its environmental and social consequences as well.
Storyline - Don Anderson is the Mickey's food restaurant chain's Marketing Director. He is the inventor of the "Big One" the hamburger best seller of Mickey's. An independent research reports the presence of cow's feces in the Big One. So Don is sent to Cody, Colorado, to verify if the slaughterhouse, main supplier of Mickey's, is efficient as it appears and the production process is regular. During his investigations he discovers the horrible truth behind a simple hamburger; the reality is not like we think it is. Don discovers what the mass production system involves, from the temp workers like Amber, to the exploitation of Mexican irregular immigrants. It is not only the meat that is crushed in the mincing machine, but all our society.


I Am an Animal
Showing everything from undercover video footage shot inside a turkey slaughterhouse to a rescued turkey singing along to classical music, this documentary about PETA founder Ingrid E. Newkirk is one of the best cases for a Tofurky Thanksgiving.


Man
This is a short and very clever animated film that sums up mans relationship with the world and with other species in just under 4 minutes. Genius.

The Matrix - 101 reasons for taking the red pill

A fascinating and entertaining presentation on the ethical solutions and health benefits of veganism by James Wildman of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.


What my Twitter followers have had to say about films that changed their lives...

If you have the chance to go see the @speciesism #movie do it! It’s like watching #Earthlings w/out feeling you’ve been punched in the face.
— RadikahlVegan Ⓥ (@RadikahlVegan) January 24, 2014