Actor and Born Free Foundation patron Dan Richardson and director Giles Alderson introduce Food For Thought. The feature-length documentary explores the recent rapid growth of the vegan movement globally and will be available worldwide on digital from February 28th.
Food For Thought is a touching, thought-provoking, and at times hilarious look at the vegan movement. Featuring Philip Lymbery (Compassion in World Farming), Mate Rimac (Rimac Auto), Ethan Brown (Beyond Meat), Katie Cleary (World Animal News), Tanya O’Callaghan (Musician), Derrick Green (Lead singer Sepultura), Jim Chapman (content creator), Harry Jarvis (High Strung), Antonia Whillans (I Am Rage).
Richardson (Fyre Rises, Retribution, Disney’s The Lodge) and Alderson (The Dare, Wolves Of War, The Stranger In Our Bed) have spent the last few years filming as they travel with work. Follow as they discover the driving forces behind the global vegan phenomenon, meet pioneers who share their stories of plant-based living, and learn about the effect that the vegan movement is having on humans, animals and the planet alike.
The documentary includes some fascinating, insightful and varied interviews with animal rights activists, philanthropists, athletes, plant-based food developers, podcasters, rock stars and more, peppered throughout with an unexpected comedic element from our protagonists. It also follows the progress of an eclectic group of volunteers as they undertake their first 30 days on a plant-based diet, documenting their experience through highly relatable video diaries.
On the documentary, co-director / producer, Dan Richardson said, “Among our top priorities was to create something unique in the genre. Making it relatable to a wide audience was paramount and it really feels like we’ve hit the jackpot in that regard thanks to our amazing vegan participants.
Ours was always intended to be a feel-good film. There’s absolutely a place for everything, all the way from ‘Earthlings’ and the horrific reality it exposes in gory detail, through to Simon Amstell’s ’Carnage’ with it’s fictional comedy/horror approach, as well as everything in between. But we were determined from day one that, while we hope to take the audience on a journey on which they’ll find themselves both laughing and crying, ‘Food For Thought’ would ultimately be a positive and uplifting film and one which would leave people feeling understood, included and hopeful”.
The documentary’s fellow co-director / producer, Giles Alderson, who has previously made the documentaries ‘World of Darkness’ and Amazon Prime’s ‘All Town Aren’t We’, says, “I’m very excited that the documentary is now complete and will be available for people to watch. It is an incredible journey and if we can make a few people eat less meat because of it then I will be overjoyed. It was a really emotional project to be a part of. Everyone we spoke to was absolutely brilliant sharing their stories, and it’s great we were able to get to know them as people a bit better and for their personalities to shine through. It was also great to show some of the companies behind the movement, and the people around the world wanting to make a change in a positive light. I’m so excited to see if we can help to change people’s perspectives of both the animal activists and also the world as a whole”.
Discussing the importance of making the film widely accessible Richardson said “The decision to release the film on YouTube was a very easy one for us. It’s a reflection of our approach to the film itself insomuch as we were determined from day one that we’d make ‘Food For Thought’ as accessible as possible, not only in terms of the general vibe of the film, but also by making it available as widely as possible and free to watch. Our aim was to create a positive, feel-good film that carries a message of hope and compassion, so to put it behind a paywall, or to only make it available to people who subscribe to a particular streaming service just felt wrong to us. This way, anyone who wants to watch ‘Food For Thought’, can! We’re really happy and excited about that.”
Food for Thought will be available for free worldwide via youtube.com/@FoodForThoughtDoc on February 28th
