The Ghosts in Our Machine

Last updated
The Ghosts in Our Machine
The Ghosts in Our Machine.jpg
Directed by Liz Marshall
Written byLiz Marshall
Produced byNina Beveridge
Liz Marshall
Starring Jo-Anne McArthur
CinematographyJohn Price
Iris Ng
Nicholas de Pencier
Liz Marshall
Edited by Roland Schlimme
Roderick Deogrades
Music by Bob Wiseman
Production
company
Ghosts Media Inc.
Distributed byIndiecan Entertainment
Films Transit
BullFrog Films
LizMars Productions
Syndicado
Virgil Films
Release date
  • April 28, 2013 (2013-04-28)(Hot Docs) [1]
Running time
92 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The Ghosts in Our Machine is a 2013 Canadian documentary film by Liz Marshall. The film follows the photojournalist and animal rights activist Jo-Anne McArthur as she photographs animals on fur farms and at Farm Sanctuary, among other places, and seeks to publish her work. The film as a whole is a plea for animal rights.

Contents

The film premiered at the 2013 Hot Docs International Film Festival. [1]

Synopsis

The Ghosts in Our Machine follows photojournalist and animal activist Jo-Anne McArthur. The documentary opens with images of animals and sound bites on animal rights, before McArthur introduces herself. She describes herself as a war photographer and activist, more concerned with changing the world than with art. She meets with representatives of Redux Pictures—though they are supportive, they express doubts about her work being published—and then has dinner with a group, one of whom, Martin Rowe, offers to be an editor for her photobook.

McArthur travels with an activist to a fur farm. The activist, "Marcus", explains that publishing photographs is more damaging to the fur industry than property damage, and talks about the kind of harms which can come to animals on the farms. The pair enter the facility surreptitiously, keen to leave no traces, in order to photograph the animals on the farm. McArthur looks through her photographs once they have left, focusing on photographs of injured foxes in wire cages. The pair travel to a larger facility housing mink, near which they find breeding cards linking the facility to a company from the Netherlands. They enter this farm to take photographs.

McArthur next visits Farm Sanctuary, where she and Susie Coston, the organization's director, discuss the importance of a personal connection with individual animals. The pair then travel to pick up a "spent" dairy cow and a "down" calf, later named Fanny and Sonny respectively. They take the cows to Cornell University Hospital for Animals where they receive health checks and treatment. Back at Farm Sanctuary, McArthur and Coston discuss the running of the institution before introducing Fanny and Sonny to their new homes. McArthur visits Farm Sanctuary some time later to again to photograph and write about the animals, including Fanny and Sonny.

Undercover footage of beagles used in animal testing introduces Maggie, a purpose-bred beagle for teaching who was adopted by Melanie and Mark. McArthur follows Melanie and Mark as they adopt Abbey, a second beagle, and talk about the difficulties Maggie experienced when it came to adapting to her new life. McArthur compiles photographs for her book alongside footage of marine mammal parks and the voice of Lori Marino, who criticizes the institutions. McArthur talks about the late Ron, a chimpanzee to whom she is dedicating her book. Ron was used in research and kept in a small cage. She describes him as an "ambassador for animals used in research". McArthur next joins Toronto Pig Save activists, protesting the slaughter of pigs and interacting with pigs headed for slaughter. She returns to Farm Sanctuary, which has received a sow abused on a breeding farm and her piglets. McArthur then visits Redux Pictures again, where she shows her pictures to Newsweek 's James Welford and explains the realities of human-animal relationships.

After images of meat, the voice of abattoir-designer Temple Grandin is heard, over footage of cattle slaughter. McArthur visits Farm Sanctuary once again. Among others, she sees Fanny, who will have hoof and bone problems for life, and Sonny, now a year old. McArthur visits a high school, where she answers questions from students. The documentary, dedicated "for the ghosts", finishes with footage of animals and the voices of Vandana Shiva, Bruce Friedrich, Antoine F. Goetschel and Gieri Bolliger, all calling for animal rights.

Development and production

Filmmaker Liz Marshall was prompted to create The Ghosts in Our Machine "to give a voice to the non-human world". Her previous films, including Water on the Table , about the right to water and the struggle to protect it from the free market, had been "human-centric", focused on human rights and environmental themes, and she intended to also "turn [her] gaze and commitment to the plight of animals used for human profit: the billions of ghosts used in the machine of our modern world". [2] She was inspired to focus on the suffering of animals by Lorena Elke, her partner, a vegan and animal activist; [3] [2] a second influence was Marshall's dog, Troy Celina Marshall, who died in 2011. [4] Liz Marshall had been planning, with Elke, to produce a film on animal rights for several years, but the idea of the film's particular approach did not come to Marshall until she learned of Jo-Anne McArthur's We Animals photography project —Jo-Anne was a friend of Marshall and Elke. [3] Speaking about McArthur's presence in the film, Marshall said that "it became increasingly clear that I needed a central human narrative to help anchor the animal stories, and Jo was that natural fit for me". [5] Nonetheless, she did not see the film as a biopic, saying that it "is not a biography of Jo, but it will be an up close and personal journey with her as she does what she does, around the world, over the course of many months". [5]

Mirroring McArthur's photographic approach, Marshall intended to make the film about "individual animals used for human profit and consumption". [3] Online, the project would tell the "ghost stories" of individual animals, and the film would tell the stories of individual animals within the four main animal industries. [5] Marshall started to spend a large amount of time on the documentary project in Autumn 2010, [2] with plans to follow and film McArthur in North America and Europe, with filming to begin in Summer 2011. [3] [5] The first story filmed in that Summer was that of the rescue of Sonny and Fanny by Farm Sanctuary. [4]

Long before the release of the film, Marshall began a cross-media campaign, allowing the documentary to "unfold over time in stages". The initial online launch date, including a trailer, website and social media presence, was April 2011. [2] This online presence partially served to create a viewership base prior to the film's release, with Marshall hoping to attract a broad spectrum of animal advocates. [3] Though she said that going "mainstream" would typically not be her aim, she said that "with this subject matter, it is the aim — this issue needs to be on the public radar". [5]

Marshall explained that The Ghosts in Our Machine is "a film, a documentary website, a Vimeo channel, an active community-building Facebook page [and so on.] Its sole purpose is to be part of the movement to expand consciousness to help end the suffering of so many animals." [2] An Indiegogo campaign was launched to help fund the project in reaching the next stage of its development, but this next stage was not solely the film. In an interview, Marshall called The Ghosts in Our Machine "a documentary film and an online immersive narrative experience". [3] In the same interview, she explained that The Goggles—designers Paul Shoebridge and Michael Simons, creators of the interactive documentary Welcome to Pine Point and of Adbusters magazine—had joined the team, and, should funding permit it, would conceive of an online interactive companion to the film. [3] The pair became the project's interactive directors, creating the film's interactive story. [6] The magazine-format website www.ghostsinourmachine.com was launched on June 5, 2012; [4] in 2013, the flash "immersive story" following McArthur's We Animals book writing process, by The Goggles, and produced by Ghosts Media was added to the website. [4]

Critical response

Reviewing the film for The Daily Telegraph , Rebecca Hawkes suggested that Marshall had eschewed the shocking imagery of many documentary films focused on animal rights, such as Earthlings , and instead "takes an almost arthouse approach, resulting in a film that's more a meditation on suffering and the relationship between humans and other species, than an angry, didactic diatribe". [7] Using the example of the segments of fur farms, Hawkes suggested that focusing on living animals was "ultimately more powerful than a dozen shots of bloody pelts and butchered corpses". [7] A similar sentiment was expressed in the Los Angeles Times , in which the critic Betsy Sharkey contrasted The Ghosts in Our Machine to the work of Michael Moore. The former, she suggested, as "a heartfelt meditation on animal rights, comes at you as a whisper". [8] Despite this, Sharkey acknowledged that there were "some difficult images in the film", [8] and Peter Debruge, in a critical review in Variety , described the film as "incredibly difficult-to-watch". [9]

For Sharkey, the animal rights message is combined with a story about activism; "both narrative threads are compelling", she suggested, in this "finely wrought" documentary. [8] Though David DeWitt, writing for The New York Times , suggested that he could not "imagine anyone not feeling moved during" Ghosts in Our Machine, he worried that McArthur may appear "extreme" to some viewers. [10] Similarly, John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter argued that "The moodily subjective work is best suited to viewers who already share most if not all of subject Jo-Anne McArthur's values; despite its obvious aesthetic appeal, its commercial value seems limited to niche bookings and special-event screenings for the activist community." [11]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNomineeResult
2015 3rd Canadian Screen Awards Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary [12] [13] The Ghosts in Our MachineNominated
Best Direction in a Documentary Program [12] [13] Liz MarshallNominated
Best Photography in a Documentary Program or Factual Series [12] [13] Nicholas de Pencier, Liz Marshall, Iris Ng and John PriceNominated
Best Sound in a Documentary, Factual or Lifestyle Program or Series [12] [13] Garrett Kerr, Jason Milligan and Daniel PellerinNominated
2014 2014 Webby Awards Best Use of Interactive Video [14] The Ghosts in Our Machine InteractiveHonoree
2013The 2013 Lush PrizePublic Awareness Prize [15] The Ghosts in Our MachineShortlisted
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival Audience Favourite [16] The Ghosts in Our MachineTop 10
Yorkton Film Festival Golden Sheaf AwardsDocumentary Nature/Environment [17] The Ghosts in Our MachineWon
Best Director Non-Fiction [17] Liz MarshallNominated
Toronto Vegetarian Association Lisa Grill Compassion for Animals Award [18] Jo-Anne McArthur and Liz MarshallWon
DMZ International Documentary Film Festival International Competition; Special Jury Prize [13] The Ghosts in Our MachineWon
Planet in Focus Best Canadian Feature [19] The Ghosts in Our MachineWon
Green Screen Award [19] The Ghosts in Our MachineRunner-up
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam Audience Favourite Award [13] The Ghosts in Our MachineTop 20
Aware GuideTop Transformational Film [13] The Ghosts in Our MachineWon

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Davis (activist)</span> American animal rights activist (1944–2023)

Karen Davis was an American animal rights advocate, and president of United Poultry Concerns, a non-profit organization founded in 1990 to address the treatment of domestic fowl—including chickens, turkeys, and ducks—in factory farming. Davis also maintained a sanctuary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Blair</span> American actress and animal rights activist (born 1959)

Linda Denise Blair is an American actress and activist. Her portrayal of Regan MacNeil in the horror film The Exorcist (1973) established her in popular culture and as a scream queen, earning her a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination. She reprised the role in two sequels: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and The Exorcist: Believer (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Deschanel</span> American actress (born 1976)

Emily Erin Deschanel is an American actress. She played Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan in the Fox crime procedural series Bones (2005–2017).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny Seagrove</span> English actress

Jennifer Ann Seagrove is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and first came to attention playing the lead in a television dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance (1985) and the film Local Hero (1983). She starred in the thriller Appointment with Death (1988) and William Friedkin's horror film The Guardian (1990). She later played Louisa Gould in Another Mother's Son (2017).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farm Sanctuary</span> Non-profit organization in the USA

Farm Sanctuary is an American animal protection organization, founded in 1986 as an advocate for farmed animals. It was America's first shelter for farmed animals. It promotes laws and policies that support animal welfare, animal protection, and veganism through rescue, education, and advocacy. Farm Sanctuary houses over 800 cows, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigs, sheep, and goats at a 300+ acre animal sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York and more than 100 animals at its location in Acton, California, near Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Baur</span> American author and activist

Gene Baur, formerly known as Gene Bauston, is an American author and activist in the animal rights and food movement. He’s been called the "conscience of the food movement" by Time magazine, and opposes factory farming and advocates for what he believes would be a more just and respectful food system. Baur is president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, a farm animal protection organization. He is vegan and has been involved with animal rights since he co-founded Farm Sanctuary in 1986. Baur has authored two books and various articles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal Liberation Victoria</span> Animal rights organisation

Animal Liberation Victoria Inc. (ALV) are an independent not-for-profit animal rights organisation incorporated in the state of Victoria, Australia, and are a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNA). ALV were founded in 1978 by Patty Mark, with the mission of saving lives and ending animal exploitation. Their mission is to abolish the property status of animals, change speciesist attitudes and practices, educate the public about animal rights and veganism, and embrace the principles of non-violence and compassion. ALV is managed by an elected committee in accordance with the Victorian Incorporated Associations Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Garbus</span> American film director and producer

Elizabeth Freya Garbus is an American documentary film director and producer. Notable documentaries Garbus has made are The Farm: Angola, USA,Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,Bobby Fischer Against the World,Love, Marilyn,What Happened, Miss Simone?, and Becoming Cousteau. She is co-founder and co-director of the New York City-based documentary film production company Story Syndicate.

Women have played a central role in animal advocacy since the 19th century. The animal advocacy movement – embracing animal rights, animal welfare, and anti-vivisectionism – has been disproportionately initiated and led by women, particularly in the United Kingdom. Women are more likely to support animal rights than men. A 1996 study of adolescents by Linda Pifer suggested that factors that may partially explain this discrepancy include attitudes towards feminism and science, scientific literacy, and the presence of a greater emphasis on "nurturance or compassion" amongst women. Although vegetarianism does not necessarily imply animal advocacy, a 1992 market research study conducted by the Yankelovich research organization concluded that "of the 12.4 million people [in the US] who call themselves vegetarian, 68% are female, while only 32% are male".

<i>Peaceable Kingdom</i> (film) 2004 American film

Peaceable Kingdom, produced in 2004 by Tribe of Heart, is a documentary about several farmers who refuse to kill animals and how they convert to veganism as a way of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Dawn</span> American animal rights advocate

Karen Dawn is an American animal rights and welfare advocate and writer.

Matthew Michael Ball is an American animal activist. He is co-founder and President of One Step for Animals.

<i>The Witness</i> (2000 film) 2000 film by Jenny Stein

The Witness is a 2000 documentary film about animal rights directed by Jenny Stein. It was produced by James LaVeck. LaVeck and Stein's non-profit organization is Tribe of Heart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Wallis</span> English musician and writer (born 1964)

Louise Wallis is an English DJ, singer, and writer who is also known for her animal advocacy. She lived in London, England, and now resides in South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Direct Action Everywhere</span> Animal rights organization

Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) is an international grassroots network of animal rights activists founded in 2013 in the San Francisco Bay Area. DxE uses disruptive protests and non-violent direct action tactics, such as open rescue of animals from factory farms. Their intent is to build a movement that can eventually shift culture and change social and political institutions. DxE activists work to "put an end to the commodity status of animals."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Marshall</span> Canadian film director

Liz Marshall is a Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto. Since the 1990s, she has directed and produced independent projects and been part of film and television teams, creating broadcast, theatrical, campaign and cross-platform documentaries shot around the world. Marshall's feature length documentaries largely focus on social justice and environmental themes through strong characters. She is known for The Ghosts in Our Machine and for Water on the Table, for which she also produced impact and engagement campaigns, and attended many global events as a public speaker. Water on the Table features water rights activist, author and public figure Maude Barlow. The Ghosts in Our Machine features animal rights activist, photojournalist and author Jo-Anne McArthur.

<i>Live and Let Live</i> (2013 film) 2013 German film

Live and Let Live is a 2013 documentary film by German filmmaker and director Marc Pierschel. The film follows several vegan activists and interviews vegan proponents. The documentary explores the reasons for adopting veganism and how people live according to this lifestyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo-Anne McArthur</span> Canadian photojournalist

Jo-Anne McArthur is a Canadian photojournalist, humane educator, animal rights activist and author. She is known for her We Animals project, a photography project documenting human relationships with animals. Through the We Animals Humane Education program, McArthur offers presentations about human relationships with animals in educational and other environments, and through the We Animals Archive, she provides photographs and other media for those working to help animals. We Animals Media, meanwhile, is a media agency focused on human/animal relationships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasmin Singer</span> American animal rights activist

Jasmin Singer is an American animal rights activist. Since 2022, she has been the host of Weekend Edition for WXXI, Rochester, NY's NPR member station. She is the co-founder of the non-profit organization and podcast Our Hen House, serves as editor-at-large of VegNews, and is the former Vice President of Editorial at Kinder Beauty. She also supports LGBTQ+ and overlapping social justice issues.

References

  1. 1 2 "World Premier at Hot Docs". 19 March 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Singer, Jasmin (April 29, 2011). "The Unfolding Narrative of The Ghosts in Our Machine". Our Hen House . Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Krajnc, Anita (June 6, 2011). "Interview with Liz Marshall: The Ghosts In Our Machine". rabble.ca . Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Hawthorne, Mark (June 1, 2012). "Filmmaker Liz Marshall Reveals the Ghosts in Our Machine". Striking at the Roots blog. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Singer, Jasmine (June 20, 2011). "The Latest From Liz Marshall of The Ghosts in Our Machine". Our Hen House . Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  6. ↑ "About The Ghosts in Our Machine". Ghosts Media Inc. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  7. 1 2 Hawkes, Rebecca (16 July 2014). "The Ghosts in Our Machine: 'It's not a finger-wagging movie outing farmers'". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 Sharkey, Betsy (14 December 2013). "Review: 'The Ghosts in Our Machine' champions animal rights". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  9. ↑ Debruge, Peter (9 December 2013). "Film Review: 'The Ghosts in Our Machine'". Variety . Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  10. ↑ DeWitt, David (7 November 2013). "A Camera Aimed at the Conscience; 'The Ghosts in Our Machine' Focuses on Animal Rights". The New York Times . Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  11. ↑ DeFore, John (15 October 2013). "The Ghosts in Our Machine: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "CBC receives 97 2015 Canadian Screen Award nominations" (press release). CBC. January 13, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Awards". Ghosts Media, Inc. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Best Use of Interactive Video; The Ghosts in Our Machine". Webby Awards . Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Public Awareness Prize Winners 2013". Lush . Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  16. ↑ Anderson, Jason (May 31, 2013). "TIFF Bell Lightbox celebrates China". The Toronto Star . p. E5.
  17. 1 2 "Canada's Golden Sheaf Award Winners 2013" (PDF). Yorkton Film Festival . Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  18. ↑ "Lisa Grill Compassion for Animals Award". Toronto Vegetarian Association . Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  19. 1 2 Walsh, Barry (November 25, 2013). "Planet in Focus honors "Ghosts In Our Machine"". Realscreen. Retrieved January 17, 2016.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.