Screening Of “Cow” with Anat Pick

Tuesday May 2nd, 6pm

“I kept saying involuntarily during the edit: ‘I’m seeing you, Luma. Don’t worry Luma, we see you.’ I’m not sure any farm animal really feels seen.” – Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold’s Cow (2021, 1h 34m) is one of a number of recent films about farmed animals. Strictly observational, an hour and a half long, with no voiceover or interviews, the film immerses the viewer in the brutal machinations of Luma’s life as a dairy cow, from forced impregnations, to the separation from her calves, and repeated milking. The film’s unflinching gaze refrains from explicitly judging what we see, but ethical questions nevertheless abound: how can we justify the ongoing use of sentient animals as commodities?

The film will be followed by a presentation and guided discussion by Anat Pick, specialist in more-than-human ethics, Reader in Film at Queen Mary University of London and author of Creaturely Poetics: Animality and Vulnerability in Literature and Film(2011).

Anat will ask where Cow fits in current debates over the future of our relationship with nonhuman animals and that of the planet. What can the film, which was directed and shot by women, teach us about the specifically gendered violence of the dairy industry? Beyond merely seeing farmed animals, can we envision peaceable ways of living together that eschew domination and exploitation?

Kairos, 1-6 Essex Street, WC2R 3HY

6pm for drinks, film starts promptly at 6.30pm followed by a break for a one-pot vegan supper and Anat’s talk and guided discussion

£5 members, £12 non-members, reduced to £10 if you book before Tuesday April 25th. Includes food.