Currently touring film festivals around the country, Peaceable Kingdom comes to UGA for two FREE screenings!

Tuesday April 5, 2005, at 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday April 6, 2005, at 8:00 p.m.

UGA Student Learning Center room 101

After the film, there will be refreshments and time for discussion.

Do animals raised for human food have emotional lives and family bonds? What happens to farm kids when they are asked to take the lives of animals they have cared for? Why would a factory farmer leave his profession to become an animal advocate?

You've seen millions of dollars of advertising from the agribusiness industry with such campaigns as "Got Milk?", "Beef: It's what's for dinner", and "Pork: the other white meat."

Peaceable Kingdom examines another angle of this story. Breaking generations of silence in the agricultural community, the film exposes the disparity between the storybook image of farming taught to us as children and the stark reality of today’s industrialized factory farms.

Peaceable Kingdom explores the human-animal connection through the inspiring stories of former farmers and animal rescuers who find healing and hope when they open their hearts to abused animals saved from factory farms. Much more than an exposé, Peaceable Kingdom offers an uplifting message of compassion and respect for all living beings.

Harold Brown, a fifth-generation farmer, recounts with heart- wrenching honesty the pain he felt as a child having to send animals he had cared for off to slaughter. He shares the uplifting story of how adopting a rescued sanctuary cow became a turning point in his life.

 

Howard Lyman, a fourth-generation Montana cattleman who turned his family's small organic farm into a massive feedlot operation, learned too
late that his success was destroying everything he loved.

Gene and Lorri Bauston rescued a sick sheep who was left for dead at a stockyard. 18 years later, they operate the nation's largest sanctuary for abused and neglected farm animals, and are helping to transform the way farmed animals are viewed in our society.

Jim Mason, who grew up on a Missouri farm in the '40s, witnessed firsthand the rise of factory farming along with its devastating impact
on animals and on farming communities.

As a male calf born to a dairy cow, Snickers would have been sent to a veal farm had his mother not been rescued shortly before his birth.

TJ, a rescued goat, finds a happy home for life at Farm Sanctuary.

An inspiring story of personal redemption, compassion, healing and hope, Peaceable Kingdom is described by many of its viewers as "a life changing experience."

What viewers are saying:

"Peaceable Kingdom is intelligent, persuasive and powerful without ever getting in your face. You might go in feeling like you're about to view a homework assignment on animal cruelty. But you come out feeling empowered by the film's knowledge and uplifted by its heart."

"It has made me stop and think about my own philosophy. I have always claimed to be an animal lover, but now I have to re-evaluate the definition of an animal lover... I think it should be shown to as many people as possible."

"An effective film without seeming overhanded. It allows the viewer to make their decision, rather than being "told" what to think. A good mix of fact, reality, comedy."

"Never before has a film made such an impact on my thoughts, dreams and feelings in the days following its viewing."

Comments from public figures:

"I have just watched Peaceable Kingdom, and I would like to express my appreciation and admiration for the work of James LaVeck and Jenny Stein. Peaceable Kingdom is about more than being shocked by the barbaric treatment of animals on modern intensive factory 'farms' - it is about the truly heroic work of taking action and making a difference. The rescuing of each individual animal in the film brings us face to face with the plight of all those we cannot help, and thus, we are educated. Peaceable Kingdom is a masterpiece. I hope it inspires growing numbers of people to support this desperately important cause."
— Dr. Jane Goodall

"Peaceable Kingdom is an extraordinary film because it presents the viewer with an opportunity to open their hearts and minds to the message of compassion for farm animals. Americans are increasingly questioning where their food comes from. As consumers become more enlightened about the reality of factory farming and seek alternatives, the industry will need to respond."
— Edwin J. Sayres, ASPCA President (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)

“Peaceable Kingdom offers a compelling and insightful look into the cruel treatment inflicted upon animals on modern ‘factory’ farms balanced with a message of hope and inspiration about the ability of individual citizens to make the world a better place for some of its most vulnerable inhabitants.”
— U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney

"Watching the film helped me reconnect with the billions of animals cruelly mistreated on their way to the slaughterhouse to meet the ever-growing demands of our consumer culture. These are hard issues that we'd often prefer to ignore, but we do so at a great cost to ourselves. What distinguishes this film is its emotional warmth and personal vignettes, in which farmers themselves talk about their own struggles around the treatment of animals and the beautiful farm/refuge that's been created to teach the children. Beyond its educational value, this film contains lessons from and for the heart."
— Rev. Tom Martinez, All Souls Bethlehem Church, Brooklyn, NY

Peaceable Kingdom received the Ojai Film Festival's theme award
for "enriching the human spirit through film."

"Peaceable Kingdom is striking a chord," says says the film's producer James LaVeck, "because it is about everyday people reclaiming their dignity and their innocence by challenging a blatant injustice. In a world that is drowning in cynicism and violence, it speaks to the potential for goodness in each of us."