Gunda (2020 film)

Last updated
Gunda
Gunda (2020 film).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Viktor Kossakovsky
Written by
  • Viktor Kossakovsky
  • Ainara Vera
Produced byAnita Rehoff Larsen
Cinematography
  • Egil Håskjold Larsen
  • Viktor Kossakovsky
Edited by
  • Viktor Kossakovsky
  • Ainara Vera
Production
companies
Distributed by Neon
Release dates
  • February 23, 2020 (2020-02-23)(Berlinale)
  • April 16, 2021 (2021-04-16)(United States)
Running time
97 minutes [1]
Countries
  • United States
  • Norway
Box office$242,100 [2] [3]

Gunda (also known as Gunda: Mother, Pig) [1] is a 2020 documentary film directed, co-written, and co-edited by Viktor Kossakovsky. The film follows the daily life of a pig, two cows, and a one-legged chicken. Joaquin Phoenix serves as an executive producer.

Contents

The film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 23, 2020. It was released in the United States on April 16, 2021, by Neon.

Synopsis

Shot in black-and-white and without dialogue, the film follows the daily life of Gunda — a sow and her piglets, two cows, and a one-legged chicken. A note during the credits indicates that the documentary was filmed in farms and sanctuaries in Norway, Spain, and the UK. [4] [5]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 23, 2020. [6] Shortly after, Neon acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. [7] It screened at the New York Film Festival on September 19, 2020 [8] [9] and at the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2020. [10] The film was released in the United States on April 16, 2021. [11]

Critical reception

Gunda received positive reviews from film critics. It holds a 98% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 50 positive and one negative review, with an average of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Gunda takes an absorbingly meditative look at farm life from the animals' perspective, tacitly posing questions about our relationship to food along the way." [12] Metacritic reports a score of 89 out of 100, based on 13 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". [13]

Writing for The New York Times Manohla Dargis describes the documentary as "sublimely beautiful and profoundly moving". [14] Similarly, Eric Kohn of IndieWire praised the documentary, describing it as "a visionary case for veganism in black and white." [15] Guy Lodge of Variety says the film's "radiantly beautiful imagery and gently immersive storytelling aren’t in service of a single browbeating message, but a broader, holistic view of where we and the animals we rear, use and consume fit into a single circle of life." [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joaquin Phoenix</span> American actor (born 1974)

Joaquin Rafael Phoenix is an American actor. Known for his roles as dark, unconventional and eccentric characters in independent film, in particular period dramas, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, The New York Times named him one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.

Manohla June Dargis is an American film critic. She is the chief film critic for The New York Times. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Rafferty</span> American filmmaker (1947–2020)

Kevin Gelshenen Rafferty II was an American documentary film cinematographer, director, and producer, best known for his 1982 documentary The Atomic Cafe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Gazecki</span>

William Gazecki is an American film director and former sound mixer best known for his documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement (1997), which earned a News & Documentary Emmy Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was awarded the International Documentary Association's Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award, and won awards at both the Melbourne International Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival. Gazecki was nominated another three times for an Emmy award, and for an Academy Award in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Velez-Mitchell</span> American television journalist

Jane Velez-Mitchell is a television and social media journalist and author with specialties in vegan lifestyles, animal rights, addiction, and social justice. She is a New York Times bestselling author, former CNN Headline News (HLN) host, and founder of UnchainedTV.

<i>Crazy Love</i> (2007 film) 2007 American film

Crazy Love is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Dan Klores and Fisher Stevens. The screenplay by Klores explores the troubled relationship between New York City attorney Burt Pugach and his ten-years-younger girlfriend Linda Riss, who was blinded and permanently scarred when career criminals hired by Pugach threw lye in her face.

<i>24 City</i> 2008 Chinese film by Jia Zhangke

24 City is a 2008 Chinese film directed and co-written by Jia Zhangke. The film follows three generations of characters in Chengdu as a state-owned factory gives way to a modern apartment complex. The film was also known as The Story of 24 City during production.

<i>Sweetgrass</i> (film) 2009 documentary film by Lucien Castaing-Taylor

Sweetgrass is a 2009 documentary film that follows modern-day shepherds as they lead their flocks of sheep up into Montana's Absaroka-Beartooth mountains for summer pasture. It was directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor, a Harvard anthropologist, and produced by his wife Ilisa Barbash. The title derives from Sweet Grass County, one of several in which the film was shot.

<i>Knuckle</i> (film) 2011 Irish film

Knuckle is a 2011 Irish documentary film about the secretive world of Irish Traveller bare-knuckle boxing. The film was made in stages over 12 years. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. This film follows a history of violent feuding between rival clans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonardo DiCaprio filmography</span>

Leonardo DiCaprio is an American actor who began his career performing as a child on television. He appeared on the shows The New Lassie (1989) and Santa Barbara (1990) and also had long-running roles in the comedy-drama Parenthood (1990) and the sitcom Growing Pains (1991). DiCaprio played Tobias "Toby" Wolff opposite Robert De Niro in the biographical coming-of-age drama This Boy's Life in 1993. In the same year, he had a supporting role as a developmentally disabled boy Arnie Grape in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, which earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. In 1995, DiCaprio played the leading roles of an American author Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries and the French poet Arthur Rimbaud in Total Eclipse. The following year he played Romeo Montague in the Baz Luhrmann-directed film Romeo + Juliet (1996). DiCaprio starred with Kate Winslet in the James Cameron-directed film Titanic (1997). The film became the highest grossing at the worldwide box-office, and made him famous globally. For his performance as Jack Dawson, he received the MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance and his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Documentary Edge Awards</span>

This article lists awards won at the New Zealand film festival formerly known as the DOCNZ Film Festival, then Documentary Edge Festival and now branded Doc Edge, since its inaugural edition in 2005 until 2012.

<i>Searching for Sugar Man</i> 2012 film by Malik Bendjelloul

Searching for Sugar Man is a 2012 documentary film about a South African cultural phenomenon, written and directed by Malik Bendjelloul, which details the efforts in the late 1990s of two Cape Town fans, Stephen "Sugar" Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom, to find out whether the rumoured death of American musician Sixto Rodriguez was true and, if not, to discover what had become of him. Rodriguez's music, which had never achieved success in his home country of the United States, had become very popular in South Africa, although little was known about him there.

<i>What Happened, Miss Simone?</i> 2015 biographical documentary film directed by Liz Garbus

What Happened, Miss Simone? is a 2015 American biographical documentary film about Nina Simone directed by Liz Garbus. The film opened the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The screening was followed by a tribute performance by John Legend. The film was released by Netflix on June 26, 2015. It was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards.

<i>Okja</i> 2017 film by Bong Joon-ho

Okja is a 2017 science-fantasy action-adventure film directed by Bong Joon-ho with a screenplay by Bong and Jon Ronson from a story by Bong. The film is about a young girl who raised a genetically modified "super pig", and, after she is taken to the United States, goes on a mission to rescue her from mistreatment at the hands of the meat industry. An international co-production of South Korea and the United States, it stars an ensemble cast headed by child actor Ahn Seo-hyun, along with Byun Hee-bong, Yoon Je-moon, Choi Woo-shik, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Devon Bostick, Giancarlo Esposito, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

<i>13th</i> (film) 2016 American documentary film

13th is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Ava DuVernay. It explores the prison-industrial complex, and the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States". The title refers to the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude, except as punishment for convicted criminals. The film argues that this exemption has been used to continue the practice of involuntary servitude in the form of penal labor.

<i>Ex Libris: The New York Public Library</i> 2017 film

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library is a 2017 American documentary film about the New York Public Library (NYPL), directed by Frederick Wiseman. It was screened in the main competition section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI Award.

<i>Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story</i> 2017 American film

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is a 2017 American biographical documentary film directed, written and co-edited by Alexandra Dean, about the life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr. It had its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and released theatrically on November 24, 2017. The film was broadcast in the United States on the PBS biography series American Masters in May 2018. As of April 2020, it was also available on Netflix.

<i>Boxing Gym</i> 2010 film

Boxing Gym is a 2010 American documentary film edited, produced, and directed by Frederick Wiseman. The film premiered at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2010.

<i>American Factory</i> 2019 documentary film

American Factory is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, about Chinese company Fuyao's factory in Moraine, a city near Dayton, Ohio, that occupies Moraine Assembly, a shuttered General Motors plant. The film had its festival premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It is distributed by Netflix and is the first film acquired by Barack and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground Productions. It won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

<i>Dominion</i> (2018 film) 2018 Australian film

Dominion is a 2018 Australian documentary film filmed primarily with drones and hidden cameras inside Australian slaughterhouses and macro-farms with the aim to expose an opaque and inhumane system, according to the film's writer, director, and produced, Chris Delforce, an animal rights activist. The film documents multiple animal abuse industries in Australia, especially agricultural livestock, while focusing its message on animal rights. Dominion portrays the killing of animals through methods such as using carbon dioxide to gas pigs, maceration of chicks, and skinning foxes alive.

References

  1. 1 2 "Gunda: Mother, Pig". BBC iPlayer . 15 September 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  2. "Gunda". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  3. "Gunda". The Numbers . Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  4. Linden, Sheri (2020-02-23). "'Gunda': Film Review | Berlin 2020". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  5. "Gunda review – snuffling about in the secret life of pigs". the Guardian. 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  6. "Norwegian films Hope and Gunda to Berlin". Norsk Film . Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  7. Wiseman, Andreas (February 25, 2020). "'Parasite' Distributor NEON Buys Well-Received Berlin Title 'Gunda', Doc Is Exec-Produced By Joaquin Phoenix – EFM". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  8. "58th New York Film Festival Main Slate Announced". New York Film Festival . August 13, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  9. "Gunda". New York Film Festival . Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  10. "Final days of Adelaide Film Festival serves up more winners". InDaily. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  11. "Watch Trailer For 'Gunda' Available Friday, April 16". Red Carpet Crash. January 1, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  12. "Gunda (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  13. "Gunda Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved April 17, 2021.
  14. Dargis, Manohla (2020-12-10). "'Gunda' Review: A Remarkable Pig's-Eye View of the World". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  15. Kohn, Eric (2020-02-23). "'Gunda' Review: A Visionary Case for Veganism in Black and White". IndieWire. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  16. Lodge, Guy (2020-03-01). "'Gunda': Film Review". Variety. Retrieved 2021-06-16.