PETA AU Global Issue 3

Through a Pig’s Eyes

Kossakovsky: Absolutely! We’ve simply decided that we are the bosses here. Why are we the most important? Because we are the cruelest creatures in existence? And therefore, we allow ourselves to kill about a billion pigs per year? And let ourselves not think about it? With different words, Leonardo da Vinci and Leo Tolstoy said the same thing: One day, people must understand that killing a human being and killing an animal are the same – an act of killing. Without removing the act of killing from our behavior, humans won’t take any crucial step forward. Therefore, I think that the first step on this path could be an empathy revolution. My film Gunda is a call for empathy! PETA: Gunda has no dialogue, narrator, or voice-over. Kossakovsky: Yes, in my film, there is no music, either. I want you to spend time in a world of animals and see them as they are! When directors use voice-over, they provoke the viewers to use their brains to learn something new. But I want you to feel first – without any voice-over or instruction – because then you will be able to think of yourself differently. This is why cinema exists: to show you something you cannot see or something that you do not want to see or something that you decided not to notice. PETA: I believe you wanted your film to be called My Apology ? Kossakovsky: Yes. My film is my apology to animals. I hope that one day, humans will find their modest place on Earth – without killing, torturing, and mistreating other living, feeling beings. Take Action Now Tarrytown, an animal-friendly shopping center in Texas, features Gunda on its billboard. Visit PETA.org/Gunda to find out where you can watch the film today.

thing? We humans have intellect, yet we’ve almost destroyed our planet. Why? To live longer than 100 years? Greenland sharks can live for up to 500 years. Trees have no brain, but some of them can live more than 5,000 years. And they do not destroy the planet. They didn’t invent torture, nuclear bombs, or Novichok nerve agents.

All images: © Courtesy of NEON

Gunda Director Victor Kossakovsky Calls for an Empathy Revolution

Human 2-year-olds who have never seen their own reflection

need about 20 minutes to recognize themselves and

understand that left becomes right. A piglet needs just one look. We saw all of this during filming. We saw that each one has a personality. They help each other, feel empathy and happiness, and have fun. For example, in the episode when the piglets discover the first rain of their life, you can see they are happy!

F our-year-old Victor

Kossakovsky’s best friend was a piglet named Vasya. It didn’t

matter that they were members of different species – the two spoke the universal languages of play and friendship. One day, his family served Vasya for dinner. Devastated, Victor swore off meat. Today, as a filmmaker, he helps others see animals the way he saw his friend: as living, thinking, feeling beings who deserve respect. PETA spoke with him about his stunning new film, Gunda . PETA: What inspired you to make a movie about a pig? Kossakovsky: My relationships with animals and two masterpieces inspired this movie: “Kholstomer: The Story of a Horse” by Leo Tolstoy was written from one horse’s perspective, describing her life and relationships with past owners. And in the painting “The Bull” by Dutch artist Paulus Potter, the man does not look straight at us, but almost all the animals do look at us! It means Potter saw each of them as having a personality. PETA: How did you choose the pig who stars in Gunda ? Kossakovsky: We were planning months of research, but we found Gunda on the first day, on the first farm we visited close to Oslo. She came to me herself when I opened the door of the barn. She was so friendly from the very first minute and so communicative with her eyes that I told the producer, Anita Rehoff Larsen, we’d found our “Meryl Streep”! PETA: What did you learn about pigs? Kossakovsky: Even before the shoot, we read science books and articles and spoke with leading scientists who study pigs’ behavior. So when it came time to film, we already knew a lot about them, including that they are, in many ways, smarter than dolphins, elephants, dogs, and octopuses. But what is the most important

They also suffer. When Gunda’s piglets were taken away, she suffered badly. The final episode of Gunda is heartbreaking. PETA: We campaign against “speciesism,” discrimination against sentient beings based on their species, not their ability to feel. Does that resonate with you? Kossakovsky: I totally agree with PETA here. When I was 4 years old, I was in a village for a few months, and my best friend was a 1-month-old piglet. We were having a great, fun time together! But then he became my family’s dinner on Christmas night, and since that time, I’ve been a vegetarian. PETA: Mark Twain felt it was human vanity to call animals “dumb” when the problem is our inability to see and understand them.

“I saw this film, I was struck by it, I’d never seen anything like it and so I was honored to support it in whatever way.” – Joaquin Phoenix, Executive Producer

Global 15

14

WHEN PIGS SOAR