"Speciesism" refers to the categorical exclusion of nonhuman animals from the moral realm occupied by humans, and exclusion from the protections that realm offers. Through a number of eye-opening interviews, the film reveals that most humans hold speciesist views -- and that these views typically lack a rational basis. We learn that because humans and nonhuman animals share many emotional and cognitive traits, the prejudice of speciesism is little different from racism, sexism, or other forms of discrimination among humans.
I recently caught up with Devries, now in his mid-twenties, to ask him about this remarkable movie and the inspiring story of its production. He delayed the start of law school for a year to work on the film, and while he did finally graduate, now he's too busy traveling and screening the movie to focus on the bar exam like most law grads. Making movies instead of practicing law? It's a brilliant, alternative legal career that many lawyers -- including me -- would view with admiration and envy.
Dave Simon: What led you, as a 20-year-old college student, to start making this film?
Mark Devries: I came across some PETA demonstrations, and I became curious as to what motivated them. I started looking into it, and once I discovered factory farming, I was shocked to learn that for the most part, farms don't really exist anymore. Instead we have these highly-controlled, sci-fi dystopias. I thought it seemed like something that should be made into a documentary. It was only once I started filming that I came upon the much larger and deeper issue of speciesism itself.
DS: You mention in the film that you didn't know anything about movie-making when you started. How did you do it?
MD: I bought a camera, and I taught myself how to use that and the recording equipment. Then I taught some college friends how to use the equipment.
DS: Amazing. So you had a crew of friends. What was the film-making process like?
MD: I had to film sporadically while in college at the beginning, using money I earned from part-time jobs. I did a lot of filming, trying to find things out, and I made many attempts to get things on film -- sometimes succeeding and sometimes not. Often we just walked up to animal facilities and tried to get into discussions with the owners, and to get them to talk about what goes on inside. Some of things they told us were quite shocking, as seen in the film. Then, perhaps a year into filming, I learned about speciesism -- and that quickly became the film's new direction.
DS: It must have been incredibly challenging to do all this while in college. Did you ever consider dropping the project?
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