The filmmaking team behind World Without Cows and Studio 410 have released the official trailer for the award-winning documentary and announced a global theatrical screening tour, opening with a premiere in Dublin on September 9. Further premiere events follow in London on September 10, Los Angeles on September 16 and New York on September 18, with directors Michelle Michael and Brandon Whitworth and executive producer Dr. Mark Lyons attending each.
Five years in the making, the film was shot in more than 40 locations across 22 countries and five continents, with Ireland among them. Waterford and Dublin both feature. Award-winning journalists Michael and Whitworth spent that time in conversation with farmers, ranchers, scientists and environmental experts, building a picture of how cattle sit at the centre of some of the largest questions facing the planet: how a growing population is fed, how the environment is protected, and how communities get adequate nutrition. Set against the backdrop of climate change, food insecurity, and rising protein demand, the documentary examines the relationship between food, sustainability, biodiversity, and the people whose livelihoods depend on the answers.
After the premieres, the campaign expands into a theatrical tour of selected North American cities from October, including a large-scale journey through America’s heartland, with international screening events planned across South America, Europe, Africa and Asia that will return the film to many of the places where it was shot. Most stops pair the screening with a panel discussion, turning the release into a series of town halls that put farmers, scientists, students, educators, environmental voices, food and agriculture communities and general moviegoers in the same room. A partnership with Gathr allows any community to request a screening and bring the film to its own local cinema, and with the documentary available in more than 25 languages, the tour is built to travel.
“The journey showed us that there is no single simple solution to the world’s greatest challenges,” said filmmaker Michelle Michael. “I don’t think the world wants simple answers. It wants a better understanding of how our global food systems work, and that need has never been more urgent than it is right now.”
“Our hope is that World Without Cows creates a new baseline for how people engage in hard conversations,” said filmmaker Brandon Whitworth. “The film wasn’t made to be an echo chamber. It was made to bring people together to ask difficult questions about complex issues and be open to different perspectives.”
“Cows have become a symbol in the climate conversation, but the reality is far more complex. By exploring this issue from many angles and in such diverse geographies, the filmmakers give us a much more insightful and hopeful outlook than we might have expected,” said executive producer Mark Lyons.
Additional tour cities, international screening events, participating panellists and special screenings will be announced in the coming weeks.
Credits
World Without Cows is directed by Michelle Michael and Brandon Whitworth, and written by Michelle Michael, Brandon Whitworth and Josh Tickell, with Mark Lyons serving as executive producer. It is produced in association with Studio 410 by Michelle Michael, Brandon Whitworth, Susanna Elliott, Alan Henthorne and Josh Tickell. Talain Blanchon edited, with music composed by Nathan Horst.
Further information is available at worldwithoutcows.com.