Gunda
GUNDA follows around a momma pig and her adorable tiny piglets, two curious cows, and a few chickens on a nondescript farm as they go about their everyday lives.
2020 | Running Time: 1 Hour 33 minutes | Rating: G
Where his prior film, the acclaimed epic AQUARELA, was a reminder of the fragility of human tenure on earth, in GUNDA, master filmmaker Viktor Kossakovsky reminds us that we share our planet with billions of other animals. Through encounters with a mother sow (the eponymous Gunda), two ingenious cows, and a scene-stealing, one-legged chicken, Kossakovsky movingly recalibrates our moral universe, reminding us of the inherent value of life and the mystery of all animal consciousness, including our own.
Victor Kossakovsky, Director
Victor Kossakovsky, an innovative documentary filmmaker, has had films honored with more than 100 awards in national and international festivals. His distinctive filmography spans many subjects but always explores the interplay of reality and poetic moments. He began his career in motion pictures at the Leningrad Studio of Documentaries as assistant cameraman, assistant director and editor in 1978. He studied screenwriting and directing at Moscow HCSF from 1986-1988. In 1989 he directed his first feature LOSEV and in 1992 made his name with his documentary THE BELOVS, which won both the VPRO Joris Ivens Award and the Audience Award at IDFA and dozens of other awards at international festivals. In 2011, Kossakovsky’s ¡VIVAN LAS ANTIPODAS! was the opening film of the Venice Film Festival. AQUARELA, his technologically groundbreaking and globe-spanning documentary on the shapes of water premiered in Venice in 2018 before being shortlisted for the Oscar® for Best Documentary.
Anita Rehoff Larsen, Producer
Anita Rehoff Larsen has produced for Norwegian and international directors since 2010. She is co-owner of the production company Sant & Usant together with producer and director Tone Grøttjord-Glenne. Together they have produced the company’s award winning films such as EXIT, 69 MINUTES OF 86 DAYS, DANCING FOR YOU, I AM KUBA, and more.
Official Selection Winner of the DOC NYC Festival, 2020
Nominated for Best Feature at IDA Documentary Awards, 2020
Best Documentary Winner at the Stockholm International Film Festival, 2020
“…“Gunda is a mesmerizing perspective on sentience within animal species, normally – and perhaps purposely – hidden from our view. Displays of pride and reverence, amusement and bliss at a pig’s inquisitive young; her panic, despair and utter defeat in the face of cruel trickery, are validations of just how similarly all species react and cope with events in our respective lives. Victor Kossakovsky has crafted a visceral meditation on existence that transcends the normal barriers that separate species. It is a film of profound importance and artistry.”
– Joaquin Phoenix, Executive Producer
Tags: Documentary, Feature