November 22 / 12: Screenings and a Prize...
[MTD Director Karol Orzechowski gives an acceptance speech by video at the
first annual Lush Prize award ceremony in London, UK, November 15th, 2012.
Photo courtesy Lush / Ethical Consumer.]
As MTD continues to roll out through festivals and independent community screenings, we continue to be encouraged by the feedback and recognition that the film is getting. It's still something that I have a hard time wrapping my head around: this film, that was just an idea some time ago, is now a real thing that exists in the world. People are watching it, thinking about it, and sharing it.
This past week, we had three awesome things to celebrate. First, after being nominated and short-listed for a Public Awareness award in the first annual Lush Prize, we found out that MTD was one of three groups that received a prize! The generous prize will help to prepare MTD for potential TV Distribution and a DVD release in 2013. We're so honoured to be included among all of the Lush Prize winners, but especially the Japan Anti-Vivisection Association (JAVA) and the Vita Animal Rights Centre from Russia, who also received Public Awareness prizes.
Secondly, we had a screenings of the film in Canada, and the US. In Kingston, Ontario, we held a community screening of MTD organized by local activists, to a great turnout and a really engaged audience. Joining me for the post-screening Q&A was Dr. Lauren Corman, a professor of Critical Animal Studies at Brock University, and someone who has very much influenced my thinking about animal issues over the years. MTD's analysis and approach, such as the focus on workers' perspectives, is something that I learned from Dr. Corman, especially during our time working on the Animal Voices radio program. It was an honour to have her at the screening, and the Q&A allowed us both to rap about the themes in the film and specific issues that I've rarely been able to address at a Q&A before.
Finally, in the US, MTD was screened at the 2012 Animal Liberation Forum at California State University in Long Beach. MTD Producer Jennifer Bundock was able to attend the screening and do a Q&A afterwards, and had this to say: "People were receptive and thankful that the film provided them an opportunity to hear from persons and animals that we rarely encounter holistically in animal rights activism. The film itself tied in terrifically with the rest of the forum, especially the presentation by Tino Verducci from the Green Hill Italy campaign, who had presented about the liberation of beagles destined for research from that breeding operation, and then chronicled the eventual permanent closure of their facility. The film helped round out the conversations by actually including the voices of vivisectors and animals who had experienced the other side. After the film was over, many of the audience members stayed to ask questions and share their own personal experiences. We were overwhelmed by the support and the whole atmosphere of the weekend, and thankful that the film was included in this critical conference and the inspiring and progressive conversations therein. Thank you so much to Cease Animal Torture and everyone who attended this year's forum."
As all of this happens, I think back to the production of the film, and especially some of the intensive investigative work that was done to make it happen. I think about the monkey farms we visited in Laos, and the work that it took to get in. I think about those places, seemingly a million miles away from research labs in North America or Europe, and I think about how the web of interconnected farmers, exporters, and end users is something that is generally completely absent from the debate about animal testing. For the thousands of monkeys on those farms who have no names, and for Darla at Fauna Foundation, a macaque who's story we know through the film, we will continue pushing this film further and further, to open up that conversation, to make their stories known, and to achieve the dream of empty cages in our lifetime.
[Macaque monkeys stare out from a cage at a breeding farm in Laos.
Photo by Karol Orzechowski.]
