{"id":208,"date":"2026-11-02T15:15:30","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vegan.emagines.org\/?page_id=208"},"modified":"2026-11-02T15:15:31","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:15:31","slug":"videos-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vegan.emagines.org\/?page_id=208","title":{"rendered":"Videos to watch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Animal Rights, Vegan, and Animal Exploitation Documentaries<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most people never see how animals are raised, used, and killed for food, research, and entertainment. Access is tightly controlled, and critics argue that industry marketing shows a picture far from practice. Several US states have passed &#8220;ag-gag&#8221; laws aimed at undercover journalists and whistleblowers, and although courts have struck down many, roughly seven still criminalize documenting farm conditions. Much of what the public learns comes from people with a stake in the answer, whether industry or advocacy groups, so the films below are a mix of evidence and persuasion. Caveats are flagged where they apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Animal rights and ethics<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Earthlings<\/em> (2005) \u2014 graphic survey of animal use, including research; narrated by Joaquin Phoenix<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Dominion<\/em> (2018) \u2014 hidden-camera and drone footage from Australian farms and slaughterhouses<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Unlocking the Cage<\/em> (2016) \u2014 the Nonhuman Rights Project&#8217;s legal fight for chimpanzee personhood<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Gunda<\/em> (2020) \u2014 narration-free portrait of a sow and her piglets<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The Ghosts in Our Machine<\/em> (2013) \u2014 Jo-Anne McArthur photographs individual animals inside industries<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The Last Pig<\/em> (2017) \u2014 a hog farmer reckons with what he does<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Eating Animals<\/em> (2017) \u2014 based on Jonathan Safran Foer&#8217;s book<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Peaceable Kingdom<\/em> (2009) \u2014 farmers who left animal agriculture<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Meet Your Meat<\/em> (2002) \u2014 short PETA film; dated but influential<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Corporate concealment and secrecy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Pig Business<\/em> (2009) \u2014 Tracy Worcester&#8217;s investigation of Smithfield Foods. Channel 4 postponed the broadcast under legal pressure, and parts were cut to make the film libel-proof before it aired. Smithfield says it never threatened to sue and only asked for inaccuracies to be removed. The director is an activist, so weigh it accordingly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Death on a Factory Farm<\/em> (2009) \u2014 HBO documentary. The Humane Farming Association sent an undercover investigator, wearing a hidden camera, to work on a hog farm; the film covers the investigation and trial that followed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Hogwood: A Modern Horror Story<\/em> \u2014 follows undercover investigators entering some of Britain&#8217;s biggest factory farms. By the advocacy group Viva!, so it is evidence presented as a campaign.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Andy Goes In<\/em> (2016) \u2014 10-minute short profiling a Mercy For Animals investigator who worked at a Tyson contract farm in Tennessee.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The Dangers of Ag-Gag Laws<\/em> (2021) \u2014 13-minute film narrated by Edie Falco, from the Animal Legal Defense Fund, on how ag-gag laws conflict with the First Amendment and conceal pollution, food safety threats, and animal cruelty. The closest thing to a direct treatment of the subject, and one side&#8217;s advocacy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also: <em>The Cove<\/em> (guarded site, filmed covertly) and <em>Food, Inc.<\/em> (industry secrecy and pressure on contract farmers), both listed elsewhere.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Animal testing<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Unnecessary Fuss<\/em> (1984) \u2014 PETA&#8217;s edit of footage from a University of Pennsylvania head-injury lab; graphic, and it contributed to the lab&#8217;s closure<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>It&#8217;s a Dog&#8217;s Life<\/em> (1997) \u2014 Channel 4 <em>Dispatches<\/em> undercover investigation at Huntingdon Life Sciences<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Project Nim<\/em> (2011) \u2014 a chimp&#8217;s path from language study to a biomedical lab<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Captivity and wildlife<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Blackfish<\/em> (2013) \u2014 orcas at SeaWorld<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The Cove<\/em> (2009) \u2014 dolphin hunting in Taiji, Japan<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Food system expos\u00e9s<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Food, Inc.<\/em> (2008) \u2014 industrial agriculture<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Cowspiracy<\/em> (2014) \u2014 animal agriculture&#8217;s environmental footprint<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The End of the Line<\/em> (2009) \u2014 overfishing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vegan advocacy (read the caveats)<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Forks Over Knives<\/em> (2011) \u2014 plant-based diet and chronic disease; the strongest of this group<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Vegucated<\/em> (2011) \u2014 three omnivores try veganism for six weeks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The Game Changers<\/em> (2018) \u2014 vegan athletes; the science is cherry-picked<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>What the Health<\/em> (2017) \u2014 overstated health claims<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Seaspiracy<\/em> (2021) \u2014 shaky statistics, and several of its own interviewees objected<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Animal Rights, Vegan, and Animal Exploitation Documentaries Most people never see how animals are raised, used, and killed for food, research, and entertainment. Access is tightly controlled, and critics argue that industry marketing shows a picture far from practice. Several US states have passed &#8220;ag-gag&#8221; laws aimed at undercover journalists and whistleblowers, and although courts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-208","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegan.emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegan.emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegan.emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegan.emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegan.emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vegan.emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209,"href":"https:\/\/vegan.emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/208\/revisions\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegan.emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}