Country: Norway, USA
Year: 2020
Duration: 93'


Even though we share the planet with billions of farm animals, we often consider them merely a resource to be exploited, completely ignoring their sensitivity. Gunda uses the point of view of a pig and the mooing of a cow to show that we are not the only species that is able to feel emotions, have a conscience, or want things. The encounter with a sow and her piglets, two ingenious cows, and a one-legged chicken remind us of the value of life of every animal that lives on the planet, including our own. 


Biography

film director

Victor Kossakovsky

(Leningrad, Urss, 1961) began working in the world of film as an assistant at the Leningrad Studio of Documentary; only later did he study directing and screenwriting in Moscow. He has always been interested in a documentary style that can link the real with the poetic and debuted in feature films in 1989 with Losev. His documentary ¡Vivan las antipodas! (2011) was selected as the opening film of the Orizzonti section at the Venice Film Festival, where he participated in 2018 with Aquarela. His movie Gunda (2020) opened the section Encounters at the Berlinale.

FILMOGRAFIA

Losev (1989), Belovy (The Belovs, doc, 1992), Sreda 19.07.1961 (Wednesday 19.07.1961, doc, cm, 1996), Pavel i Lyalya (doc, cm, 1998), I Loved You... (doc, 2000), Tishe! (Hush!, doc, 2002), Russia From My Window (doc, 2003), Svyato (cm, 2005), ¡Vivan las antipodas! (Viva gli antipodi!, doc, 2011), DisplAir (doc, cm, 2012), Demonstration (doc, 2013), Varicella (cm, 2015), Aquarela (id., doc, 2018), Gunda (doc, 2020).

Declaration

film director

“Since I became a filmmaker I have always wanted to make a film about the creatures with whom we share the earth, a film about animals as living, feeling beings in their own right. I wanted to make a film without patronizing or humanizing them, without any sentimentality, and without vegan propaganda. [...] Gunda is on the screen for over half of the runtime of the final film and is an extraordinarily powerful character - you do not need an interpreter to understand her emotions and experiences. As such I decided to make this film without any captions, voice-over, or music, you just need to watch it and allow yourself to feel.”

Cast

& Credits

DIRECTOR: Victor Kossakovsky. SCREENPLAY: Victor Kossakovsky, Ainara Vera. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Egil Håskjold Larsen, Victor Kossakovsky. FILM EDITING: Victor Kossakovsky, Ainara Vera. SOUND: Alexandr Dudarev. PRODUCTION: Sant & Unsant, Louverture Films.

CONTACTS: Cinephil, Shoshi Korman shoshi@cinephil.com
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