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Tagged as “Peaceable Kingdon”
Monday, April 4, 2011
Posted by Shea Lynch at 2:22PM
| 7 comments
Blog posting written by Shea Lynch, Documentary Studies '14, FLEFF Intern, Glens Falls, New York
FLEFF Week documentary Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home, directed by Jenny Stein, is a great incite into the awakening from a culture of farming families and the amazing connections with animals.
I interviewed producer James LaVeck.
Why does Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home matter? What makes this movie special?
This film shares a important story that has never been told before, one that has the ramifications for all our lives as well as those of billions of animals. In farm communities all over the world, there are young people who experience conflict over using and taking the lives of animals that they have cared for and nurtured.
For some, this conflict is scarring and becomes a life long trauma, especially for those who have a gift for connecting with animals. There are also animal farmers who, after years of running a farm, come to question the idea that animals are here just to be a means to an end, and who begin to search for a new way to relate to the animals under their care.
By bringing our audience along on the journey of these farmers, we invite them to ponder the same questions and dilemmas the farmers and animal rescuers in the film are grappling with. The ethics of the human-animal relationship are being heavily discussed and debated in our culture right now, and too often, treatments of this subject are so politicized that no little real dialogue happens.
We sought to make a film that went deeper than politics, into personal ethics, conscience, and most of all, the universal human experience of realizing that our actions are having a profound impact on others, an impact we often don't fully realize. Equally profound is our potential to accept the challenge of doing what it takes to make things right, which turns out to be one of the more fulfilling aspects of the human experience. Both individually and collectively, we have an amazing ability to respond to injustice with creativity and nonviolence.
What separates this film from other FLEFF Week film events? 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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
What do you want the audience to get out of this documentary?
A viewing experience that is memorable, inspiring, and hopefully even life-changing. Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home has won several film festival audience awards, and this is particularly meaningful for us because this film challenges many audience members to re-examine some of their ideas about farmers, farm animals and farm life. Audiences like the film I think because the film subjects -- both people and animals -- are fascinating individuals who are easy to relate to, and the story they have to share is both emotionally compelling and thought-provoking.
A viewing experience that is memorable, inspiring, and hopefully even life-changing. Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home has won several film festival audience awards, and this is particularly meaningful for us because this film challenges many audience members to re-examine some of their ideas about farmers, farm animals and farm life. Audiences like the film I think because the film subjects -- both people and animals -- are fascinating individuals who are easy to relate to, and the story they have to share is both emotionally compelling and thought-provoking.
We're looking forward to a great screening at FLEFF!
Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home will be screened on April 14 (7:00PM) at Cinemapolis! ONLY ONE SHOW! BE THERE!!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Posted by Brian McCormick at 3:32PM
| 3 comments
Blog post written by Brian McCormick, Film, Photo & Visual Arts '12, FLEFF Intern, Wilbraham, MA
With FLEFF almost two weeks away, I'm prepping myself for the films and events that I really want to see. I am especially excited for the wealth of documentaries being showed by internationally recognized filmmakers.
I am drawn to "human documentaries," which focus on human subjects' personal stories in order to speak to a whole, larger truth. Do you have a favorite kind of documentary?
I've focused my top five exclusively on the films being shown downtown at Cinemapolis -- for a larger list of documentaries and other films, make sure to check out our listings.
1) GOOD FORTUNE - a film by Landon Van Soest and Jeremy Levine
I had the privilege of interviewing Van Soest about his film and it sounds phenomenal. In Good Fortune, they explore the negative repercussions of efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa, honing in on the stories of Jackson and Silva who live in Kenya.
This is an extremely controversial subject. We are asked always to send money to these causes, but how do we know where that money is going? And also, is power always inevitably going to corrupt? Do we sacrifice good intentions for the "greater good"?
I think Jackson and Silva have an important story for us to hear.
(Showtimes: Cinemapolis, Sun. April 17 @ 2:00PM w/ Jeremy Levine, and 9:30PM)
2) AGRARIAN UTOPIA - a film by Uruphong Raksasad
The trailer for this film was the first piece of FLEFF that I saw, and I was blown away by the beauty and power in those images. This film shows two families working together on the same farm, trying to get through the season while adjusting to the country's changing economy, politics and society.
This documentary asks, does development and progression always mean increased happiness?
(Showtimes: Cinemapolis, Fri. April 15 @ 7:30PM; Sat. April 16 @ 9:30PM)
3) BUDRUS - a film by Julia Bacha and Ronit Avni
The Israeli village Budrus, with Palestinians and Israelis, Hammas and Fatahs, men and women, unite in non-violent protest against Israel's Separation Border, otherwise known as "the Fence." They are led by local community organizer Ayed Morrar, who brings the people together to save Budrus from destruction.
This is an inspiring story of unification against a common enemy, highlighted by Morrar's 15-year-old daughter Iltezam, who launches a contigent of women that quickly moves to the front lines (father and daughter side-by-side). The film chronicles this movement, which is still continuing today.
As said by a Fatah Party Member in the film: "I felt that, in order to succeed, we had to empty our minds of traditional thinking." This speaks wonderfully to the new environments and new ideas we are looking to explore here at FLEFF.
(Showtimes: Cinemapolis, Thur. April 14 @ 7:10PM; Sat. April 16 @ 9:30PM)
4) PEACEABLE KINGDOM: THE JOURNEY HOME - a film by Jenny Stein and James LaVeck
This documentary takes a hard, powerful look at how farmers are beginning to question traditional practices of handling animals and treating them as commodities. This is a very moving film that will give you the kind "inside look" into a way of life we don't think twice about. I think this is a very important film for us to see.
(Showtimes: Cinemapolis, Thur. April 14 @ 7:00PM; Sat. April 16 @ 9:30PM)
5) LOS HEREDEROS - a film by Eugenio Polgovsky
A look at child labor in rural Mexico, and how it has become a condition passed down from generation to generation. If you watch the trailer, you see it is a continuous cycle of labor: collecting water, shoveling, harvesting, sculpting, and so on. These children inherit these duties and are trapped in this cycle. Is it fair that our duties are determined by birth?
(Showtimes: Cinemapolis, Thur. April 14 @ 9:30PM; Fri. April 15 @ 10:00PM)
Well, there's MY list. I hope you're all looking through the films and finding out what you want to see.
The best part is that we have both the films AND their filmmakers -- any questions you have can be answered the same night you see it. Looking forward to it.
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