Experiential cinema in its purest form, 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, Master 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. GUNDA asks us to meditate on the mystery of animal consciousness, and reckon with the role humanity plays in it. Executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix.
Watch Trailer
ABOUT
VICTOR KOSSAKOVSKY | DIRECTOR
Victor Kossakovsky was born in Saint Petersburg (Leningrad at the time) on July 19, 1961. An innovative documentary filmmaker, his films have been honored with more than 100 awards in national and international festivals. His distinctive filmography spans many different 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 screenwritingand directing at Moscow HCSF from 1986-1988. In 1989 he directed his first feature LOSEV and then in 1992 made his name with international critics and audiences 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 around the world. In 2011, Kossakovsky’s ¡VIVAN LAS ANTIPODAS! was selected as the opening film of the Venice Film Festival. AQUARELA, his technologically groundbreaking and globe-spanning documentary on the shapes of water also premiered in Venice in 2018 before being shortlisted for the Oscar® for Best Documentary, among other honors.In many of his films Kossakovsky has served simultaneously as director, editor, cinematographer and writer.Currently based in Berlin, he continues to serve as a teacher and mentor to aspiring filmmakers and documentarians globally.
ANITA REHOFF | 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. Anita is educated in film studies from the UK and has developed as an international producer from EURODOC. Anita looks for directors with a strong cinematic voice, and started working with Victor Kossakovsky in 2013 producing his first documentary for children VARICELLA which was awarded at IDFA in 2016.
JOSLYN BARNES | CO-PRODUCER
Joslyn Barnes is a writer, producer and co-founder of New York based Louverture Films together with Danny Glover and partners Susan Rockfeller, Bertha Foundation and Sawsan Asfari. Among the films shehas been involved with producing are the features: BAMAKO by Abderrahmane Sissako; Apichatpong Weerasethakul's UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES, CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR and the forthcoming MEMORIA; Deepak Rauniyar's WHITE SUN; Lucrecia Martel's ZAMA; and Nadine Labaki’s CAPERNAUM. Among the documentaries are: Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s TROUBLE THE WATER; Göran Hugo Olsson’s BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975, CONCERNING VIOLENCE and THAT SUMMER; Eugene Jarecki’s THE HOUSE I LIVE IN; Tala Hadid’s HOUSE IN THE FIELDS and the forthcoming FOREST OF STONE;
Yance Ford's STRONG ISLAND; RaMell Ross's HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING and EASTER SNAP; Victor Kossakovsky's AQUARELA and the forthcoming GUNDA; and Lucrecia Martel’s forthcoming CHOCOBAR. In 2017, Barnes was the recipient of both the Cinereach Producer Award and the Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producer Award. In 2010, 2018 and 2019 she was nominated for Emmy® Awards, and won in 2018 for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. In 2018and 2019 she earned Oscar® Nominations for best Documentary Feature.
JOAQUIN PHOENIX | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
