The Docfest Exchange: Beyond Our Own Eyes programme is all about challenging our ways of seeing the world, and presenting perspectives beyond our own. Within this strand of the festival, Gunda chronicles the unfiltered lives of a mother pig, a flock of chickens, and a herd of cows with masterful intimacy.
Using stark, transcendent black and white cinematography and the farm's ambient soundtrack, director Victor Kossakowsky invites the audience to slow down and experience life as his subjects do, taking in their world with a magical patience and an other worldly perspective.
From a litter of piglets, to a herd of cows, and eventually to a scene-stealing one-legged chicken, we observe these animals as they are rarely seen: up-close and filled with personality.
Stripped to its bare elements, with no music, narration, or even humans, Gunda asks us to meditate on the mystery of animal consciousness, reminding us of the inherent value of life, and reckon with the role humanity plays in it.
Gunda will continue to screen at the Showroom the week following Docfest.
- Words by
- Joe Harris
- Featured in
- Sheffield DocFest picks
- Film picks
