Like Victor Kossakovsky’s documentary about pigs, Gunda (2020), COW makes a statement without making a statement. In her first documentary, Andrea Arnold, whose feature films include American Honey (2016), simply chronicles events. She presents the life of a dairy cow: a succession of inseminations, births, milkings and so on. At times the camera gets up so close that it looks like the cow Luma is going to trample the camera operator.
The result is intensely moving. Here, it’s not the individual human that’s the villain, but the system. Arnold shows that this “object” being channelled through a numbing routine is a living being - a being who lovingly licks clean her newborn calves, who is tenderly nuzzled by a bull and who can enjoy the sunset from her pasture. A being who can look at you through the lens and make contact. Her eyes are unforgettable.

Pim Martens, Professor of Sustainable Development at Maastricht University, will introduce the film and will put COW in the broader context of sustainability, animal welfare, and the relationship between humans and animals. After the screening he will take the lead in the discussion.

In cooperation with Lumière Cinema.