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UnchainedTV: Why This Film Festival Really Rocks! · UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell

0:00
Host, Jane Velez Mitchell.
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We've got breaking news for you.
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The International Vegan Film Festival is in the
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house.
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And this is an extraordinary film festival that
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is really discussing the most important issues of
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our day, climate change, habitat destruction, the horrors
0:18
of factory farming, and what we're doing to
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wildlife on this planet.
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I mean, we've got a problem, but we
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also have solutions.
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And one of the most effective ways to
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change hearts and minds is with video, documentaries,
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and even reels.
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IVFF is now accepting social media reels.
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So get ready to submit people if you
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have any kind of video content that you
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think is life-changing.
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We've also got something exciting to tell you
0:55
about in that the IVFF International Vegan Film
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Festival has a brand new executive director.
1:02
And we're so excited to have her here
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speaking to us today, Emma Schwartz, who I
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was so really blown away by her bio,
1:14
just the fact that she's a cellist and
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a classical music cellist.
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I'm like, oh my gosh, on top of
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that, you do all of these other things.
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So I just wanna say welcome to our
1:27
panel.
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We're also gonna talk to the director of
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an incredible film that could reduce the amount
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of animals killed by more than 90%.
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So let's go straight out to Emma Schwartz,
1:39
who is the new executive director of the
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International Vegan Film Festival.
1:44
Emma, congrats.
1:45
Tell us, what is your vision?
1:47
Hi, Jane, thank you so much for having
1:49
me today.
1:49
I'm so honoured to be here with you
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all.
1:52
Yeah, the International Vegan Film Festival is really
1:54
entering a new exciting stage of growth.
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The most, I think, exciting new development, as
2:01
you mentioned, is that we're now accepting social
2:03
media reels as a category in our festival,
2:06
because we truly believe that one, social media
2:09
is an absolute art form that deserves recognition.
2:13
It's really difficult to create effective social media
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reels.
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And we believe that those creators who are
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doing that effectively deserve to be recognised.
2:22
But we also see social media as the
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centre of modern content consumption.
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Social media is where most people get their
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information nowadays.
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And so we wanna recognise the creators who
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are reaching vast audiences through social media, because
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social media is really the centre of modern
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content consumption and animal activism.
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And you also, though, have great films and
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we are at Unchained TV, really so honoured
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and delighted to be streaming a lot of
2:58
those films.
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We have a category on Unchained TV that
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lists a lot of the films from the
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IVFF.
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And here's just a few titles.
3:09
You may recognise some.
3:10
The Ghosts in Our Machine is an extraordinary
3:14
award-winning film.
3:16
And then you have some lighthearted, I would
3:19
call them maybe experimental films where they're experimenting
3:21
with fiction.
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And we also have an incredible film we're
3:27
streaming right now called Not a Nugget.
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And I wanna play a little clip of
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Not a Nugget, and then we're gonna talk
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to the director.
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In 2017, I volunteered to look after a
3:41
rescued chicken while a home was found for
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him.
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His rescuers had named him Ian, which stands
4:01
for I Am Not a Nugget.
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Oh my gosh, what an incredible film.
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I'm really honoured to be streaming it.
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And we have Mark Middleton, the director, and
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that was his voice.
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So tell us, Mark, what inspired you to
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do that film and what impact do you
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hope it has?
4:24
Jane, thanks very much for having me on.
4:27
Yeah, so Not a Nugget is a short
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film that I made in 2022.
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It's a student film that I made at
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the USC Documentary Summer Programme in six weeks.
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And really, it's kind of a practise film
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for a larger project about chickens that I'm
4:44
working on.
4:45
But my goal with the film was to
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sort of put chickens in the context of
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companion animals.
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And in the film, I sort of relate
4:55
the chicken to my dog and my cat
4:57
that I had at the time and sort
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of show that chickens are really intelligent, sensitive
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animals who are really misunderstood and very underestimated,
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I think.
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Ian was this bright personality and he had
5:19
all this life in him.
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And he had a lot of behaviours that
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I thought were similar to my cat.
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There's that shot right there where he was
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sleeping next to me like my cat.
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And then sort of relate that to chickens
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on sanctuaries and the larger issue of chickens
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on farms that Ian was the breed of
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chicken, the exact breed of chicken, the Cornish
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cross that people eat.
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And he's exactly like the chickens that are
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raised on farms and slaughtered for food.
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And so the number of animals, the number
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of chickens being killed on those farms, it's
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like 9 billion a year in the US,
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tens of millions of them every single day.
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Yeah, and this is just one image of
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a chicken that was actually submitted in a
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legal case recently here in California.
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And that doesn't even begin to describe or
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paint a picture of what literally happens to
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these birds.
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It's really unfathomable.
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And so by actually just showing people that
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these animals are individuals, if we could convince
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people to relate to chickens the way they
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relate to dogs and cats, we could literally
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reduce by more than 90% the total
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number of animals killed.
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So I love that you did this film.
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And we're gonna talk a little bit about
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a feature length film that you're working on
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with a similar theme.
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But first we got a caller, Lindsay and
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Tarzana, your question or thought for our panel
7:13
with the International Vegan Film Festival.
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Well, thank you, Jane.
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I'm both excited and very, very sad.
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I did watch, can you hear me?
7:26
Yes.
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Okay, I did watch, I Am Not A
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Nugget, and my heart was broken by that.
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I already had a parrot, so I knew
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a little bit about birds, although chickens and
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parrots are different.
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They're still a, they're both birds and they're
7:43
wonderful animals.
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And so that was sad, but I'm so
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happy that you could make that.
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And if enough people could see how much
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they are like dogs and cats, I think
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more people will stop eating them.
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And I'm very excited about the film festival.
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And I may be submitting a reel because
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I'm a content creator.
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And I think it is the best way
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right now to reach our audience as animal
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activists.
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So thank you so much for what you're
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doing.
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And I'm intrigued by both of you and
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the work you do.
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So thank you.
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Wow.
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Thank you for calling in.
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So how do people submit?
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What are the different categories, Emma?
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What would you say to people who say,
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well, I'm curious, but it's a little, it
8:30
is, can be a little intimidating, the process
8:32
in general for any film festival.
8:35
Absolutely.
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So our submission process is really easy.
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You just go to our website and there's
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a big tab that says submit film.
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And it takes you to the Film Freeway
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platform, which is very systematic.
8:47
You just upload your project and then submit
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it to our festival.
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So the process is very easy.
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For social media reels, you can actually even
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link to the actual Instagram reel.
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So you can copy the link from Instagram
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and then input that into Film Freeway.
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And we see it on our end.
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So you don't even have to upload a
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separate file.
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You can just link to Instagram.
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So we try to make it as accessible
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as possible for people.
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And I'd love to, I love Lindsay's point
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and Mark's point about making farmed animals more
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visible to people.
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Because one of the challenges that our society
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faces is that farmed animals are hidden from
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us.
9:24
We don't see them.
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We don't see their individuality.
9:28
We don't see their personalities.
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They're hidden in sheds far away from the
9:31
road because people, because the industry doesn't want
9:34
us to see what they're doing to them.
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And I love films like Mark's that really
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bring farmed animals to the forefront and show
9:43
their individuality and their personalities and their capacity
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for love and relationships and friendships.
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And I think that films like Mark's, like
9:51
I Am Not A Nugget, really are the
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way that we're going to change the world
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because we need to show people that farmed
9:58
animals and chickens are just like the animals
10:01
that we love.
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If we can inspire that connection and that
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love in people, that's how we're going to
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shift perspectives and ultimately shift the global supply
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chain.
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So I just wanna say that I think
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Mark's work is incredible.
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And we at International Vegan Film Festival wanna
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support anyone who is creating content that is
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inspiring positive change.
10:25
How many films do you get, Emma?
10:28
Yeah, so we usually get around 50 films
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submitted every year and then at the annual
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festival, we usually screen around 10 to 15,
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although we do present awards to films that
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are not able to be screened at the
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film festival because of time constraints.
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So just because films aren't screened at the
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festival doesn't necessarily mean they can't win awards,
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but we try to make the festival as
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interactive as possible for our audience because we
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really want it to be a very inspiring
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experience.
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So yeah, 50 films are usually submitted and
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then we select 10 to 15 to screen
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and then we give awards in eight different
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categories.
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Wow, well, again, Unchained TV is really thrilled
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to have a category on Unchained TV.
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This is a shot of the category.
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We've got well over a dozen of the
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films that have been a part of the
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International Vegan Film Festival and we're so excited
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that Not a Nugget is one of them
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as well as A Dying Sea, which is
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such an important film as well, covering a
11:39
different aspect, covering the fact that we've got
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seas that are dying and all the sea
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life inside those seas are dying.
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And so let's take a quick look at
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that film and then we can discuss it
11:51
on the other side.
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This is just one clip.
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I urge everybody to go to Unchained TV
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and watch this.
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If you care about our seas, this is
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just, oh, it's a wake up call.
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It may seem like a boring experience, but
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you should give it a try.
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You will realise that cleaning a beach involves
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more than just removing some trash.
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You will start to ask yourself more and
12:15
more questions by putting every type of trash
12:18
into the garbage bin.
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The extent of our plastic consumption has been
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communicated to the public many times.
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Even consuming with a more mindful approach would
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be a beneficial next step.
12:37
When we travelled to Turkey and clean beaches,
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we actually didn't notice any major pollution.
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But just because we didn't see it doesn't
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mean that it wasn't there.
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So, wow, this scared the wits out of
12:53
me and I related because I live in
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California at the beach.
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I walk my dogs today along the beach
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and we've experienced the red tide which is
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making the sea lions sick.
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And of course there's an animal connection.
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It's all the runoff from the cow facilities
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and the CAFOs, the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
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in Northern California.
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And all of that's going into ultimately the
13:20
water, a lot of it.
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And then it's polluting the water.
13:23
It comes down here and then the sea
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life is sick.
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But when you look at the ocean, it
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looks great.
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So it's that dichotomy.
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And I really, one of the things he
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says in the film is that this is
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a cautionary tale.
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This is a small enclosed sea in Turkey,
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but that something like this could happen to
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the Mediterranean.
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It's what they see when they go under
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the water that is truly shocking.
13:50
So let me ask you, Mark, as a
13:52
filmmaker and an animal activist, do you see
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as we desperately try to wake people up
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to the unfolding horrors of climate change, habitat
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destruction, wildlife extinction, ocean dead zones, are films
14:06
a key to trying to wake people up?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I think that there's actually some data on
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this.
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I mean, there's both anecdotal evidence and data
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that documentaries really do affect people.
14:22
I mean, just personally, I've talked to so
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many people that have said that they made
14:26
a change in their diet because of a
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documentary that they saw.
14:30
And a number of years ago, there was
14:33
a study that was done that asked people
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what sorts of media or what sorts of
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interactions influenced them to make positive changes in
14:44
their diet towards vegetarianism or towards veganism.
14:46
And documentaries was one of the top things
14:49
that people mentioned changed their mind.
14:52
I think that the form of film has
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tremendous power to influence people and affect people's
15:00
emotions and also to deliver information, that you
15:03
have all these different tools of rhetoric.
15:07
And especially with documentary, it's such a vastly
15:13
versatile form of art.
15:16
There's so many ways that you can do
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it.
15:18
There's really no way to do a documentary
15:20
wrong, I think.
15:21
There's just like so many tools that you
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have at your disposal to influence people.
15:26
You have music and art and information, visuals.
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And yeah, I just think you have all
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the power of film that you can use
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to change people's hearts and minds.
15:39
Well, just to be provocative for a second,
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because running a streaming network myself and getting
15:45
a lot of submissions, there are times where,
15:49
wow, I say this is well-intentioned, but
15:52
it looks easy, but not everybody can do
15:54
it.
15:55
And so how do you, Emma, encourage people
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to remain creative but also when it comes
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to awards, the reason boards exist is that
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there are excellent films and there are not
16:07
so excellent films.
16:08
So who's judging?
16:10
Where are your panel of judges and what
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is the criteria that they use?
16:16
Yeah, that's a great question.
16:17
So our judges at IVFF are all industry
16:20
professionals.
16:21
They're all either filmmakers or content creators.
16:24
One of them was even featured in the
16:27
film, Eating You Alive.
16:28
He was a cast member in that documentary.
16:31
So we really try to source from industry
16:33
professionals who know filmmaking inside and out.
16:36
And one new thing that we're adding this
16:39
year is that every filmmaker and content creator
16:42
that submits to IVFF will get written feedback
16:45
on their work from our judging panel.
16:48
So whether or not you're chosen for the
16:50
festival or get an award or anything, you
16:52
will get feedback from our judging panel because
16:55
our mission is really to empower advocates that
16:58
are using art and filmmaking to advocate for
17:02
animals.
17:02
So we want to make all of you
17:04
the best that you can be.
17:05
So we want to give you feedback so
17:07
that you can come back year after year
17:08
better and better and make more engaging content
17:11
and impact people more and inspire people more
17:14
to embrace veganism.
17:16
So some of those criteria that we use
17:20
for the judging process are first and foremost,
17:23
the story.
17:24
We really are looking for content with a
17:27
central storyline that not only engages the audience,
17:31
but reaches their hearts.
17:32
If you think about when you've watched a
17:35
film or documentary and you've been impacted by
17:38
that, almost always it is the story that
17:41
gets to you the most.
17:42
So we're really looking for impactful stories.
17:46
And then there are other things like the
17:48
cinematography.
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How are you presenting the story visually?
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How are you engaging the audience visually to
17:56
enhance that story?
17:57
And then below that, how are you using
18:01
scoring and music to enhance the emotional atmosphere
18:05
that you're creating for the audience?
18:07
So those are just a couple of criteria
18:09
that we use to judge our films.
18:11
Well, I'm really happy to see that it's
18:12
not just something that's done off the cuff,
18:14
that you have a panel of jurists who
18:17
are experts and that you have specific criteria.
18:22
Because I think that really is important.
18:25
Okay, we've got another caller, Paige in Los
18:27
Angeles.
18:28
Your question or thought for our team, part
18:31
of the International Vegan Film Festival.
18:32
Thank you.
18:34
Amazing.
18:35
My question is the future, where do you
18:37
see this going for the future?
18:39
And people like myself who are activists, how
18:42
can we get involved?
18:45
Great question.
18:46
Back to you on that one, Emma.
18:48
Yeah, yeah.
18:49
So I am really hopeful for the future
18:52
and I will give the audience here a
18:55
resource that I think is really helpful.
18:56
So there's this research institute called RethinkX.
19:00
It's rethink and then the letter X.
19:03
And what they do is they analyse industries
19:06
and analyse research and then come up with
19:09
predictions for the future.
19:11
And they recently did an analysis on the
19:14
global food chain and animal agriculture in particular.
19:18
And they predicted that the rate of innovation
19:23
with food technology is innovating so fast that
19:27
precision fermentation will outpace meat production in terms
19:35
of cost effectiveness and level of production by
19:40
the year 2030.
19:42
And they literally said, this is a quote,
19:44
they said that the cattle industry will be
19:47
all but bankrupt by the year 2030 because
19:50
food technology will have outpaced it so much.
19:53
Who is this?
19:54
Who said this?
19:55
This is a research institute called RethinkX.
19:59
Yes.
20:00
And I can send this food report to
20:04
you, Jane, for your audience later.
20:06
But I'm really, really hopeful for the future.
20:09
I think that technology is innovating so fast
20:11
that it will honestly, precision fermentation will be
20:14
cheaper than meat production.
20:16
And these companies just wanna make money.
20:19
So they are going to go with the
20:21
most profitable way of producing food.
20:24
So there is hope for the future, but
20:26
what we can do as activists now to
20:28
accelerate that shift in the global supply chain
20:31
is inspire our communities to embrace veganism and
20:38
a vegan lifestyle because the consumer market and
20:41
what consumers demand determine the behaviour of these
20:45
companies.
20:46
They just wanna make money.
20:47
So if we show them that consumers want
20:49
vegan products and want precision fermentation, they will
20:53
make it.
20:53
They will shift away from animal agriculture.
20:56
So the most effective thing we can do
20:57
in our everyday lives is inspire our community
21:01
to embrace a vegan lifestyle.
21:03
And one of the ways that you can
21:05
do that, if you have skills for content
21:08
creation is creating content on social media or
21:10
making films.
21:12
And Lindsay Baker says, what a helpful show.
21:14
I'm so glad I tuned in.
21:17
Yes.
21:17
And the most profitable way of producing money.
21:20
I don't know if that was ironic, but
21:21
it's a clever commentary.
21:24
You know what, from your mouth to God's
21:26
ear, as the old saying goes, I certainly
21:28
hope you are right.
21:30
And it's something that I think we all,
21:33
those of us who see the horrors of
21:35
animal agriculture on the animals, on human health,
21:39
and on the surrounding environment, we are literally,
21:43
in my case, praying for your outcome that
21:46
you just predicted.
21:47
But we also know that there's a war
21:49
being waged by that industry that you say
21:52
is going to essentially vanish.
21:55
They literally have a command centre that is
21:59
like part Pentagon, part Fox News in Colorado,
22:03
according to an article in the Guardian.
22:05
And they do things like masters in beef
22:08
advocacy programmes, where they have thousands of people
22:11
who are pushing, pushing beef, but also attacking
22:17
vegan options.
22:19
So where does that fit into all of
22:22
this?
22:23
Because it's such a complicated subject.
22:25
Honestly, Mark, if it were just a question
22:27
of people seeing suffering and stopping, I would
22:31
think that most of the world would have
22:34
stopped because you have to be living under
22:35
a rock at this point, not to have
22:37
seen some of the horrors that are unfolding
22:40
in the factory farming.
22:42
I don't even call it factory farming anymore,
22:44
the animal factory system.
22:50
Yeah, so, I mean, certainly any industry that
22:55
is threatened is that has a vested interest
22:57
in making money off of exploiting animals is
22:59
going to act to defend itself.
23:04
I think that that's kind of just shows
23:07
how threatened they are.
23:10
And really the only way that they can
23:13
keep operating is for people to remain in
23:18
the dark about what they're doing.
23:21
I think there still is significant information that
23:27
can be released about, not just about what
23:31
the industry is doing to animals and how
23:35
they abuse animals, but also about just animals
23:38
themselves and increasing people's understanding that these animals
23:44
are bright, they are sensitive, they do feel.
23:46
I think that people still greatly underestimate chickens,
23:51
people definitely greatly underestimate fish.
23:55
And I still think that we have ground
23:58
to cover in terms of our understanding of
24:00
these animals and our sympathy for them.
24:04
But certainly, you know, you could say that
24:11
people would have gone vegan by now.
24:13
I still think that there are more people
24:15
out there that can be influenced.
24:18
And maybe there's people who won't go vegan
24:20
all the way, but perhaps there's people who
24:22
would make a change like just stopping eating
24:24
chicken.
24:25
And that's a very positive change that gets
24:27
you most of the way there in terms
24:29
of helping animals, land animals only.
24:33
We got another caller, Emick in Los Angeles.
24:36
Your question or thought for a fabulous panel
24:39
regarding the International Vegan Film Festival.
24:43
Hi, this is so good to hear that
24:45
you started it.
24:46
I wonder first how the reactions were in
24:51
Europe since it's international and other countries.
24:54
And also I wouldn't know if there's any
24:58
known names in the judge panel, like famous
25:02
actors or whomever could even deliver the message
25:06
in a further.
25:07
And I'd like to include for the three,
25:09
even the farmers and corporations and government should
25:13
be included in these actions that create movies
25:17
to educate themselves and people.
25:20
Thank you so much.
25:21
Thank you, Jane.
25:22
Thank you, Emick.
25:24
Yeah, do you have any famous judges, Emma?
25:29
I think I'm certainly famous within I think
25:33
the vegan filmmaking industry.
25:36
So one of our judges is Jasmine Levya
25:38
and she created a fantastic documentary called Living
25:43
in Plants.
25:44
So she is a great judge.
25:47
We also have a judge, Jonathan Roseberry.
25:50
He worked for Animal Outlook and has produced
25:53
a lot of content in the space.
25:55
So he's a real expert on not only
25:57
documentary filmmaking but also short form content as
26:00
well.
26:01
So our judges are very well known in
26:03
the vegan content creation space.
26:06
And we have a few more.
26:08
So yeah, we really, really try to source
26:10
from judges that not only know filmmaking but
26:14
also know the message of animal advocacy because
26:17
that is what our mission is all about
26:19
is to inspire audiences, to embrace veganism, to
26:23
elevate animal activism to an art form and
26:26
to empower those activists who are using filmmaking
26:30
and content creation as a medium for advocating
26:34
for change.
26:35
Well, I'm gonna play devil's advocate here for
26:38
a second.
26:39
One of the reasons I love Not a
26:40
Nugget is that it's upbeat when it starts.
26:43
It doesn't scare people off because I do
26:46
see, we see the stats.
26:48
By the way, Jasmine Levya, one of your
26:50
judges also made the Invisible Vegan which is
26:52
streaming on Unchained TV, an incredible documentary about
26:56
her own journey to veganism and her family's
26:59
health problems from eating the standard American diet.
27:02
It's a really good film.
27:03
So check it out on Unchained TV along
27:05
with Not a Nugget and A Dying Sea.
27:07
But, you know, I've tried to convince some
27:11
filmmakers when they present something, maybe you could
27:15
not start with that sad music and the,
27:19
you know, the, do, do, do, do, do,
27:21
do.
27:22
I'm not even joking.
27:24
It's a trigger for a lot of people.
27:26
They say, this is gonna be a very
27:28
sad documentary.
27:31
I'm gonna be depressed and I don't wanna
27:33
watch it.
27:33
And a lot of times if you get
27:35
people in the tent with something upbeat, like
27:38
you start, Mark, with the chicken just kind
27:43
of floating around.
27:45
She got rescued, right?
27:48
And she's popping around the backyard and getting
27:51
to know the dogs.
27:52
And it's reassuring.
27:54
You're like, okay, I'm not gonna have nightmares
27:57
from watching this.
27:58
And then you stick in some hard facts.
28:01
How can we get people to start being
28:06
a little bit more strategic in that regard?
28:10
Because I'll be honest with you, I see
28:13
the stats of when it's a really heavy
28:15
duty documentary that scares people off the top
28:19
and they don't watch the whole thing.
28:21
They drop off.
28:22
We've gotta let people know because if a
28:25
tree falls and no one hears it, does
28:27
it make a sound?
28:29
Yes, Jane, I think that is a great
28:31
point.
28:31
And I completely agree with you.
28:33
And as a filmmaker myself and as executive
28:36
director of the International Vegan Film Festival, that's
28:39
one of the things that we're trying to
28:40
communicate to our community of filmmakers is that
28:45
we have to make content that reaches our
28:48
intended audience.
28:49
So our intended audience as animal advocates are
28:52
not vegans.
28:53
Our intended audience are non-vegans because we
28:56
wanna reach people who aren't yet vegan and
28:58
inspire them to embrace veganism.
29:00
And the key word there is inspire.
29:03
We want our audience to feel pulled toward
29:07
a new positive way of life, toward compassion,
29:11
toward kindness.
29:12
We don't want them to feel shamed out
29:14
of an old way of eating.
29:17
So we don't want our audience to feel
29:20
like we're shaming them or like we're telling
29:21
them that what they're doing is not good
29:24
or that what they're doing is violent.
29:25
We want them to feel inspired to embrace
29:28
this new way of life.
29:30
And so one of the most important ways
29:31
that we've identified of how to do that
29:34
is by presenting a story with a central
29:37
figure, whether that's Ian the chicken or whether
29:40
that's a human who's going on a journey
29:43
towards compassion themselves.
29:45
But an audience really connects with an individual,
29:48
a story.
29:49
We need them to identify with a protagonist
29:52
that is taking them on a journey towards
29:55
compassion.
29:56
There are films that present all of the
29:59
horrible footage and statistics and those can be
30:02
very effective for a certain audience.
30:06
But for a lot of people, as you
30:07
said, Jane, that's very triggering and they'll just
30:09
shut it off.
30:11
So the most effective way that you can
30:12
reach the intended audience of non-vegans and
30:15
inspire them to take steps toward a vegan
30:17
lifestyle is by presenting compelling stories and then
30:22
using that story to package strategically information and
30:27
statistics.
30:28
And so you don't want to overwhelm someone
30:31
with graphic footage.
30:32
You want them to identify with a protagonist
30:35
and then you can include little tidbits of
30:37
really graphic footage, but you don't want the
30:39
graphic footage to be the message that the
30:42
audience is receiving.
30:43
You want the message to be the story.
30:46
I couldn't agree with you more.
30:48
And for example, in one film, which is
30:52
not this one, but Punk Rock Vegan Movie,
30:55
and that's Dotsie Bausch of Switch for Good,
30:57
who's an amazing activist.
30:59
But Punk Rock Vegan Movie, Moby's movie, which
31:03
we stream, he does show graphic footage, but
31:06
it's almost like by the time you grab
31:08
the clicker, he's onto the next Punk Rock
31:11
band.
31:11
So I think that quick flashes before people
31:15
can disconnect and go, I don't want, that
31:18
is the key.
31:19
But it's gotta be very short.
31:21
And I think he's kind of mastered that
31:24
with that particular film.
31:26
Just when you think, oh, it's onto the
31:28
next thing.
31:28
All right, we've got yet another caller, Michelle
31:32
in Los Angeles.
31:33
Your question or thought for our panel with
31:35
the International Vegan Film Festival.
31:39
Hi, thanks for having me.
31:41
I agree with all of you.
31:42
I have a lot of friends that I
31:44
show the different reels to on Instagram, and
31:48
they gravitate towards the ones that are cute
31:52
and they're telling story and more compassionate.
31:55
What feedback are you getting from people who
31:57
are not vegan about the films that you
32:00
have in the festival?
32:03
Yeah, that's a great question.
32:05
So I think very similar to the feedback
32:07
that you're getting, people love happy content when
32:11
they understand that pigs are as smart as
32:15
dogs and even smarter than three to five
32:17
year old human beings.
32:18
When they see two chickens cuddling together, when
32:20
they see cows licking each other, all of
32:23
a sudden their perspective on those animals changes.
32:26
They start to see those animals as intelligent,
32:29
sentient beings, just like their dogs and cats
32:32
that they love.
32:33
And would you eat your dog or cat?
32:35
No.
32:36
So changing their perspective on who the farmed
32:40
animals are is a very effective way to
32:43
get them to change their behaviour.
32:46
So the feedback that we get from our
32:49
film festival is people tend to identify with
32:52
those positive stories.
32:54
And then within those positive stories, just like
32:56
Jane said, you can insert little bits of
33:00
reality of what those animals are actually experiencing
33:03
in the factory farming industry.
33:06
And because they are now connected to them
33:09
emotionally as individuals, they see each farmed animal
33:12
as a sentient, intelligent individual, that footage from
33:15
the industry hits that much harder.
33:17
Because if they think that animals just have
33:21
no souls, they're not intelligent, they don't feel
33:23
pain, then that footage doesn't really impact them
33:26
because they don't see them as individuals, right?
33:31
But when they understand that these are intelligent,
33:33
sentient individuals with emotions and relationships and capacity
33:36
for love, then when they see that footage
33:39
in small bits, it really impacts them because
33:43
they see themselves in that footage, they see
33:45
their dogs in that footage.
33:46
So packaging the footage in a small way
33:50
within the larger context of a story is
33:53
the most impactful way to reach people.
33:56
And that's the feedback that we've received.
33:57
And we have yet another caller, Annie in
34:00
Sherman Oaks, your question for our panel.
34:03
Hi, yes, thank you, Dane.
34:05
Thank you for being here.
34:06
Oh, wow, I'm so grateful to have you
34:09
all leading on as leaders.
34:12
But one of the things I wanna say
34:15
is that people always make a crazy thing
34:18
about factory farms, that animals are different.
34:23
If there is a way maybe like, you
34:25
know, the twin video that was made about
34:28
twins, one being in the factory farm, maybe
34:31
one piglet, and another one is, and they're
34:34
the same, something like that.
34:36
And also I'd love to know how often
34:37
are you gonna do this and how many
34:39
countries are involved?
34:41
Great questions, thank you, Annie.
34:43
Okay, so I'm gonna go throw it, I'll
34:46
throw it over to Mark.
34:47
I think that's a really good idea.
34:49
We know a twin experiment on Netflix has
34:53
been a huge success and has really impacted
34:56
people concerned about their health.
34:58
And if you haven't seen it, it's basically
35:01
twins, one gets a vegan diet, one doesn't,
35:05
various twins.
35:06
And the results are extraordinary.
35:10
The people who are eating the plant-based
35:13
diet have better results, let's put it that
35:15
way.
35:15
I don't wanna ruin it for anybody.
35:19
So Mark, what are your thoughts about using
35:22
some of these tried and true techniques?
35:25
For example, we at Unchained TV did the
35:28
world's first reality TV series starring pigs called
35:31
Pig Little Lies.
35:33
And that was our biggest hit, people loved
35:36
it.
35:36
I mean, my neighbour came up to me
35:38
and was like, what's happening with Beatrice, one
35:40
of the pigs?
35:41
I knew that she had really connected with
35:43
the pigs.
35:44
So that's a reality TV show.
35:46
What about sort of imitating that twin experiment
35:49
concept, but with a pig that goes into
35:52
a factory farm, poor thing, and then another
35:54
pig who's out?
35:57
Brilliant idea.
35:59
Yeah, I think that could be really compelling,
36:03
especially seeing how the pig who is at
36:07
the sanctuary or wherever the rescued pig is
36:10
living is expressing their natural behaviours.
36:13
Because we know that the pig that's going
36:15
to go into the factory farm is going
36:17
to be deprived of everything natural to that
36:21
pig and deprived of the ability to express
36:23
many of the pig's natural behaviours, such as
36:26
socialising and being outside and exploring a natural
36:31
environment, wallowing in the mud.
36:34
And yeah, factory farms deprive animals of all
36:37
their natural inclinations.
36:43
Yeah, I think that there's what's needed is
36:47
a variety of approaches to messaging here, because
36:51
everybody is going to be affected by a
36:53
different message, like the health message is really
36:57
going to get to some people, the environmental
37:00
message is going to get to some people,
37:02
the animal message is going to get to
37:03
others.
37:04
And I agree with everything that was said
37:07
before about sort of trying to make this
37:09
an uplifting topic.
37:12
I'm glad that the movies out there exist
37:16
that show the really graphic footage.
37:19
I think it's important that those are there,
37:23
and there are absolutely people who will be
37:27
affected by watching those things and won't be
37:29
alienated by it.
37:33
But yeah, that's definitely the approach that I'm
37:37
taking is trying to sort of present the
37:41
information in an uplifting and inspiring way and
37:46
let people sort of come to the conclusions
37:48
for themselves.
37:49
Like I've always sort of said that these
37:52
sort of changes in thinking and the way
37:57
you see the world and the way you
37:58
think of animals and adjust your diet, I've
38:02
always sort of thought of it as something
38:03
that you need to see for yourself.
38:05
Yeah, and I hate to be a cynic,
38:08
but just throwing it out there, a lot
38:09
of people say, look, when it comes to
38:12
eating animals, there's three criteria that are the
38:15
most popular, taste, price and convenience.
38:19
And that no matter what you say, somebody
38:22
mentioned back in the days of factory farming
38:27
or farms being out there, the slaughterhouses, right?
38:32
That people saw that before they hit it
38:35
and they still ate animals.
38:37
So I would just wanna ask, is there
38:41
any concern that maybe no matter what we
38:47
show people, it's all gonna boil down to
38:49
taste, price and convenience for the vast majority
38:52
of people?
38:52
I think those of us who've been vegan
38:54
many years, I've been vegan approximately 28 years.
38:58
There are people I know for my entire
39:00
life and I've badgered them, relatives.
39:04
Some of them still don't seem moved by
39:07
this.
39:08
What do we do about those people?
39:11
Do we need to create different films for
39:13
different types of people and then try to
39:15
get those films in front of those specific
39:17
audiences?
39:20
Yeah, that's a great question.
39:21
So I think this boils down to people's
39:24
motivations, right?
39:25
So if you're motivated by health, a health
39:28
documentary about the benefits of a plant-based
39:31
diet would be motivating to you.
39:33
If you are motivated by embracing compassion in
39:37
all of your choices, then an ethical documentary
39:39
would be motivating to you, right?
39:41
And then if you're not necessarily motivated by
39:44
those two things, but you're motivated by taste,
39:47
convenience and price, then we need to tailor
39:51
content to those motivations.
39:53
And that I think is where content creators
39:57
creating content around food come in.
39:59
So another aspect of the International Vegan Film
40:01
Festival is we host the world's only vegan
40:04
cookbook contest.
40:06
So we accept submissions for vegan cookbooks and
40:08
then we give top awards for the top
40:11
three cookbooks.
40:12
And that we decided to include that in
40:15
our film festival because we recognise cookbooks and
40:19
food content as essential in motivating people to
40:24
embrace a vegan lifestyle because you're absolutely right.
40:27
People want their food to taste good, they
40:28
want it to be convenient and they don't
40:30
wanna spend a lot of money on it.
40:31
And so these content creators and cookbook authors
40:35
are showing these people how to create delicious
40:38
food that is convenient and that, depending on
40:42
their perspective, can certainly be done on a
40:44
budget as well.
40:46
So some of our- I wanna jump
40:47
in because we at Unchained TV stream so
40:51
many cooking shows, cooking series, cook we have,
40:56
oh my gosh, Lauren Toyota and a whole
41:00
bunch of other people.
41:01
There's too many to name, frankly, doing these
41:04
incredible recipes.
41:06
Would you ever consider doing a cooking show
41:09
category?
41:11
Oh, you can absolutely submit to that.
41:14
So that would go in our lifestyle category.
41:16
So any cookbook or cooking show content can
41:20
be submitted to IVFF in the lifestyle category.
41:23
So we welcome all of those submissions because
41:26
yeah, food is such an important way that
41:29
people experience the world.
41:30
It's such an important part of people's culture.
41:33
And when we're talking about behaviour change, people
41:35
don't wanna change their culture.
41:37
They don't wanna change drastically what they're eating
41:40
every day.
41:40
For the most part, some people will when
41:42
they're going vegan.
41:43
So we need to show people how they
41:45
can create the food that they love, that
41:48
tastes good, that's convenient, that's cheap, but just
41:51
with different ingredients, just switching out the ingredients.
41:54
So some of our past cookbook authors have
41:57
been Carly Beaudrug of Plant U and her
42:00
perspective is all about no waste cooking.
42:04
So she shows you very easy, convenient recipes
42:07
that use all parts of the plant.
42:10
So it's very budget friendly.
42:12
Tony Okamoto of Plant Based on a Budget
42:14
has submitted in the past and that's all
42:16
about producing cheap, delicious vegan food.
42:19
So yeah, the cooking content is a huge
42:24
part of advocacy.
42:25
And so we at IVFF definitely recognise that
42:29
as an integral part of activism.
42:33
Excellent.
42:33
We've got another caller, Sarah in Los Angeles.
42:36
Your question or thought for our panel.
42:40
Hi, hi.
42:41
I was wondering if you guys were gonna
42:43
talk about the Rowdy Girl film coming out,
42:46
if that was gonna go international because I
42:48
think the premiere is coming up.
42:50
Oh, funny you should mention that.
42:52
Renee King Sonin is going to be speaking
42:57
along with Moby and the director, Jason Goldman
43:01
at the Lemley coming up very soon.
43:07
I think it's June 6th.
43:08
And then there's various screenings here in Los
43:12
Angeles.
43:13
They've had screenings in New York.
43:15
They're having screenings in New York as well.
43:17
It's an incredible film.
43:18
And of course it's about Renee King Sonin,
43:21
a former cattle rancher.
43:23
She and her husband turned their cattle ranch
43:25
into a vegan animal sanctuary.
43:28
So what do you do about big films
43:30
like that?
43:31
Because that's a, it's a pretty big film.
43:34
It, yeah.
43:36
Yeah, absolutely.
43:37
It's funny you mentioned that.
43:38
I was actually at the world premiere of
43:40
that film in Toronto last year.
43:42
So I got to see it in the
43:44
Hot Docs Theatre in Toronto and it was
43:47
wonderful.
43:47
Renee was there, Jason Goldman was there.
43:50
So yeah, wonderful, wonderful film.
43:52
I loved it.
43:53
And that was before I took over as
43:55
executive director of IVFF.
43:57
So I've definitely, I've reached out to them
44:00
to submit it to the festival this year.
44:02
And so we're hoping that it comes through,
44:04
but yeah, we love great films like that
44:06
because they have such a capacity to inspire
44:10
change.
44:11
And one of the things I loved about
44:12
that film is the story.
44:14
It was Renee's story.
44:16
Like you really connect with her.
44:18
She is such a wonderful figure because she
44:23
was a cattle rancher.
44:24
So she can connect with cattle ranchers.
44:27
She can connect with people who are still
44:28
in the industry and she can show them,
44:30
hey, there's no right way to do the
44:33
wrong thing.
44:34
That's one of the quotes that she says.
44:36
There's no right way to do the wrong
44:37
thing.
44:37
And she realised that as a cattle rancher
44:40
and that inspired her transition to a sanctuary.
44:42
So that's a perfect example of a central,
44:45
strong story that connects to many different audiences.
44:49
So love that film.
44:51
Absolutely.
44:52
And we're trying to round up a whole
44:54
bunch of people to go to it.
44:56
So stay tuned, Unchained TV fans, you'll be
44:59
getting an e-vite so that we can
45:02
get a really nice group of people there
45:03
to watch that extraordinary film.
45:05
And you're absolutely right.
45:07
People connect with people.
45:09
You know how they say dogs really wanna
45:11
be with dogs and they wanna meet dogs.
45:13
Certainly my dogs wanna meet dogs when we're
45:15
walking.
45:16
Well, people want to know about people.
45:19
And that's why People Magazine is the biggest
45:22
magazine out there.
45:24
So Mark, tell us about the new movie
45:27
you're working on and how you incorporate the
45:31
fact that people wanna hear about people, but
45:33
you also are trying to show chickens and
45:38
change their attitude toward chickens.
45:40
How do you get those two to connect?
45:44
Great question.
45:46
So that's honestly still something that I'm figuring
45:48
out.
45:49
I'm still in production on it, still sort
45:51
of developing that story, but I've done a
45:54
lot of very exciting interviews so far, including
45:57
with chicken scientists and people studying chickens and
46:01
who have studied chickens and other birds.
46:04
And know a lot about recent developments in
46:08
what we understand about bird intelligence.
46:12
And so that's one way of just relating
46:16
chickens to birds and showing people who have
46:20
studied birds very carefully talking about their surprising
46:27
abilities.
46:30
And this is probably a little bit of
46:33
inside baseball or whatever, but I must tell
46:36
you about the woman that I met at
46:38
the Animal Vegan Advocacy Summit who runs a
46:42
chicken micro sanctuary, I believe in Tennessee.
46:45
And I think she'd be a great person
46:48
to interview because she is just chock full
46:51
of really delightful anecdotes about her chickens and
46:55
they are rescued chickens.
46:56
And she's very upbeat and compelling.
47:01
And so I think that it's also about
47:04
showing the people who care about animals.
47:08
You know, this going vegan has been described
47:11
as such a sacrifice and such a deprivation
47:14
when it's the exact opposite.
47:17
My worst day as a vegan is better
47:19
than my best day eating animals.
47:21
So, you know, how do we convey that
47:24
this is a joyous, fun, upbeat, we're healthy,
47:29
healthier, we have more energy, we feel better
47:31
about ourselves because on some level people know
47:34
they are killing.
47:35
And you had said something about tradition.
47:37
Well, you know, I was just reading an
47:38
article.
47:39
Cheeseburgers were invented in the 1920s in response
47:43
to the car culture.
47:44
I think they started in Pasadena.
47:46
The first McDonald's was in 1940 and then
47:49
the others followed.
47:51
This ain't no tradition.
47:52
This is a very new thing of eating
47:56
animals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and driving
47:58
up and picking up a piece of an
48:00
animal and driving off.
48:03
Fast food is in response to the emergence
48:05
of the car culture.
48:07
And it really occurred to me that now
48:09
that there's so much remote work, maybe fast
48:12
food will go bye-bye along with the
48:14
office buildings that are struggling right now.
48:19
When I was reading this article, I was
48:20
like, wow, it really brought home.
48:22
This is not tradition, Emma, the way Americans
48:26
are eating.
48:28
Yeah, you're right.
48:29
You know, I loved in the first episode
48:32
of the twin experiment on Netflix by Louisa
48:35
Hoyas, where they profiled the rise of processed
48:41
food in America.
48:42
So it really started, like you said, in
48:45
the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, around the 30s
48:50
and 40s, where a lot of Americans weren't
48:52
qualifying for the military.
48:54
They couldn't get into the military to fight
48:56
World War II because they were too skinny.
48:59
So the government said, whoa, we have a
49:03
huge deficit in calories across the country.
49:05
So we need to create calorie concentrated food
49:08
that is quick and easy to get out
49:11
on our shelves to Americans.
49:12
That's where like spam came from and hot
49:15
dogs and all these things of just this
49:17
hyper-processed food that was just designed to
49:19
get calories onto our plates.
49:21
But now- Now let me say, they
49:23
certainly did a good job.
49:25
They did.
49:26
Yes, and now we're seeing the consequences of
49:30
that.
49:31
And it has, that is several generations ago.
49:35
So I think that has seeped into our
49:36
culture as Americans.
49:38
But I give, I think there's so much
49:41
hope with the new food technology that is
49:43
coming out where Beyond Burgers and Possible Burgers
49:45
taste way better than the animal alternatives.
49:50
I have several people in my life recently
49:52
who came to me and said, hey, you
49:54
inspired me to get the vegan burger at
49:56
this restaurant and I wasn't even with them.
49:59
And they were like, honestly, it was the
50:00
best burger I've ever had.
50:01
I don't even miss the meat.
50:02
I'm gonna get this from now on.
50:04
So it's still a burger.
50:05
It's still what they're used to, but you
50:07
just switch the ingredients.
50:09
So I think that's the key.
50:11
Let people keep their comfort food, but just
50:14
switch the ingredients to plant-based and then
50:16
it tastes better.
50:17
They feel better.
50:18
Animals aren't hurt.
50:19
The environment isn't hurt.
50:20
So I think that's the easiest way.
50:23
It's a win, win, win.
50:24
All right, we have another caller.
50:25
Carol in Massachusetts.
50:27
What would you like to talk about?
50:30
Hi.
50:30
Hi, Jane.
50:32
Hi.
50:32
I'm from New York, actually, around your neck
50:34
of the woods.
50:35
I was in New York involved in animal
50:37
rights in the 80s and a lot of
50:39
those people there.
50:42
I'm in Massachusetts now and I'm calling from
50:46
there, but I'm a person who goes to
50:48
Turkey, Istanbul, pretty frequently.
50:52
And I have come to find myself, of
50:56
course, involved with animal issues over there.
50:58
Tends to happen, right?
51:01
And in Istanbul, there's a long, long, long,
51:06
long tradition, a beautiful tradition of taking care
51:09
of animals in a way that we have
51:12
something to learn in this country.
51:14
The Ottomans were great animal lovers.
51:17
You walk through the city and you see
51:19
water troughs that the Ottomans built.
51:22
It's quite amazing.
51:23
I urge you, recommend you go.
51:27
The people in Istanbul care for all the
51:31
street animals, dogs and cats.
51:33
They have water bowls.
51:35
They have the food out.
51:36
They have little houses for them.
51:39
And that's so wonderful.
51:41
And I just wanna say, A Dying Sea,
51:44
A Dying Sea, one of the films that
51:46
we've been talking about is set in Turkey
51:49
and the sea animals are suffering because of
51:55
people not going out to hurt animals, but
51:59
they're leaving garbage.
52:01
And then there's the fishing nets.
52:03
So what is your question for us?
52:06
Okay.
52:07
Well, now in Istanbul, these street animals who
52:11
have always been, always been cared for traditionally.
52:15
Things are changing, Jane.
52:17
There's strong tourism economy over there and real
52:21
estate development.
52:23
And there have been some entities that have
52:25
pushed forward a bill and it looks like
52:28
it's going to pass to round up all
52:30
of these cared for, much loved cats and
52:34
dogs and murder them.
52:37
And tourism, as I said, is a very
52:40
big issue in Turkey.
52:42
They're doing very well with it.
52:43
My friends are trying desperately to bring attention
52:48
to this.
52:48
Thank you for letting us know about that.
52:51
We really appreciate it.
52:53
I would suggest that you contact people for
52:55
the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is an
52:57
incredible organisation that responds internationally.
53:01
And please give me your cell phone.
53:05
You can do it with our producer and
53:08
we'll take it from there.
53:08
I would love to.
53:09
I've been trying to do that.
53:10
What's the best way?
53:11
I'll do it off air, I guess, right?
53:14
Yes, you can email me at jane at
53:18
unchainedtv.com.
53:20
Jane at unchainedtv.com.
53:23
We're running out of time.
53:24
Thank you, Carol.
53:26
I appreciate you sharing.
53:28
Yeah, there is another, we actually did a,
53:31
we have a film called Hero Dogs about
53:35
dogs in certain parts of Latin America who
53:39
are running wild.
53:40
Frankly, here in Los Angeles, we've got a
53:43
pet overpopulation problem.
53:45
I have two dogs that are rescues.
53:48
One was running in the street.
53:49
The other, they tried to dump her at
53:51
the shelter and the shelter said, oh, we
53:52
don't have any room, take her back.
53:54
And luckily somebody found her.
53:56
We've got a lot of problems with animals.
53:59
How do we deal with all these disparate
54:01
problems, Mark?
54:02
You know, you're focussing on chickens.
54:04
This woman's trying to save stray dogs and
54:08
cats in Istanbul.
54:09
Well, I think one of the wonderful things
54:14
about the animal protection movement is that there
54:17
are so many people that are interested in
54:20
so many different kinds of animals and so
54:22
many different animal issues.
54:23
Absolutely.
54:24
I think that people should go where, you
54:28
know, what inspires them?
54:30
You know, if you're extremely motivated by street
54:34
animals, absolutely, street animals need help.
54:36
They need somebody to look after them and
54:38
to feed them and to help them.
54:40
If you're interested in working in plant-based
54:42
meat or in cultured meat, like you can
54:46
contribute that way.
54:47
If you're interested in fish, you know, there's
54:51
a lot of work that needs to be
54:52
done on fish, on helping companion animals, wild
54:55
animals, animals raised for clothing and experimentation.
55:01
We need people focussing on all of these
55:04
different areas.
55:05
I agree.
55:06
But I will say your focus, focussing on
55:10
chickens, has the potential to reduce the number
55:14
of animals killed.
55:15
If we could literally, people are maybe not
55:18
aware that it's something like 95%.
55:21
I don't have the exact figure, but it's
55:23
approximately 95% or even more of all
55:26
animals killed are chickens.
55:28
And I just love the fact that we're
55:32
starting to get films that get people to
55:34
relate to chickens.
55:35
So keep us posted and we'd love to
55:38
stream that full-length documentary you're doing when
55:41
you get it done on Unchained TV.
55:43
Final thoughts, Emma, about how old, last question,
55:47
how old can the films be to submit?
55:50
Yeah, so for this year's festival, we're accepting
55:53
films made in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and
55:57
social media reels as well.
55:59
So anyone that has created content within those
56:02
three years, you're welcome to submit to IVFF.
56:05
And you can do that at our website
56:07
at theivff.com.
56:10
So that's one way to submit.
56:12
And our festival for this year is Saturday,
56:16
November 16th in Toronto.
56:19
So if you're in the Toronto area or
56:22
you're able to travel to Toronto, we'd love
56:23
to see you in person.
56:25
But another programme that we do that makes
56:27
the festival accessible worldwide is our World Tour
56:31
Programme.
56:31
So every year we take select films from
56:35
the festival and then package those into a
56:39
world tour where we can work with you
56:41
as an individual or organisations to put on
56:43
your own screening in your community.
56:46
And that is going on right now.
56:47
So our films from the 2023 festival are
56:50
currently doing a world tour.
56:51
So if you would like to host a
56:53
screening in your community, you can also find
56:56
that information at our website at theivff.com.
57:00
And we are out of time.
57:01
Thank you, fantastic panel.
57:03
Everybody at home, make sure to download Unchained
57:05
TV on your phone or on your TV
57:08
using streaming devices for free.
57:11
Oh, let's save the planet, animals and people.
57:14
See you next time.