What separates this film from other FLEFF Week film events?

I know how much effort went into programming this film festival, so I think all the films and special events are going to be great. One thing that makes Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home unique at FLEFF is that it is a documentary made by Ithaca filmmakers. One of the subjects, Harold Brown, who will also be attending the screening, is also local. Harold's story is all about healing deep pain and finding the courage to follow your heart.

We'll be having a Q&A after the film, as well as a reception at Delilah's, so there will be an opportunity for us all to interact with the audience. Screenings of this film tend to inspire a paradigm shift, which naturally creates a feeling of community amongst those who have shared the experience. We're excited to share this life-affirming experience with the people of our home town. 

The theme of FLEFF this year is Checkpoints, ideas coming together. How do the themes in Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home represent the FLEFF theme?

On the FLEFF website, it says, "Checkpoints mark environmental turning points." We believe that our society’s relationship to animals is at a turning point.

Despite the fact that more and more of us are realizing that other animals have emotional lives and deep familial bonds far deeper than was once imagined, their use and abuse has never been more widespread. By the end of this century, human activities are projected to wipe out more than half the species now on our planet. Will we continue to view the other beings who share our world as a "resource" to be exploited, or will we recognize that animals, however they may differ from us, are each individuals who have inherent dignity and worth above and beyond their utility to humans?

That question, in my opinion, is one of the most pressing of this century. We invite our audience to grapple with this question and consider the journey of conscience undertaken by seven people whose relationship to other animals goes through a remarkable evolution over the course of the film. 

What are some difficulties you faced making this film?

This is a film that tells the individual stories of both people and animals, and in both cases, we wanted it to be authentic and powerfully engaging. In the case of the human subjects, former farmers and animal rescuers, this meant creating an environment in which these courageous people would be able to open up and share some of the most difficult and inspiring moments of their lives. We took the time to build that special level of trust, and each person in the film more than met us halfway. We are so honored to have had this chance to work with people who represent what’s best about the human spirit. 

When it came to the animals we were working with, our challenge was to help the audience get to know them as individuals, to look beyond the stereotypes most of us learn from childhood, which are often derogatory and do not at all reflect their natures -- pigs are filthy, chickens are "bird brains”, cows are walking milk machines, sheep mindlessly follow. These ideas, which are deep-seated in our culture, are easily seen as false by anyone who has the chance to spend time with these animals in an environment where they are allowed to express their true natures. In Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home, we allow our audience to see this see remarkable truth for themselves. The film features some truly amazing animal rescue footage in which the individuality of the animals comes through so vividly, which is also evident in the footage we shot documenting the day to day lives of animals at sanctuaries. Many people remark that viewing this film has given them a whole new relationship to other animals, one they find that is full of new possibilities.

 

 

 

Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home will be screened on April 14 (7:00PM)  at Cinemapolis! ONLY ONE SHOW! BE THERE!!