A lot of people are drawn to meat free eating after watching a film that resonates with them in some way. Whether it’s seeing an aerial view of Amazon rainforest destruction, watching plant-based athletes excel at their sports or being faced with the inside of a slaughterhouse for the first time, making a connection is powerful and can change how one views the world forever. With that in mind, here are eight films we highly recommend watching and passing onto friends. Spoiler alert: they may make you want to go vegan!
#1 Eating Our Way to Extinction
Narrated by Academy Award winner Kate Winslet and executive produced by Kate Winslet and Sir Richard Branson in 2021, ‘Eating Our Way to Extinction’ takes audiences on a cinematic journey around the world, telling the shocking but empowering story of why what we eat is the single most important tool we have for reversing the global environmental crisis.
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#2 The Game Changers
“Someone asked me, ‘How could you get as strong as an ox without eating any meat?’ and my answer was, ‘Have you ever seen an ox eating meat?’” This memorable line by Patrik Baboumian, a world record holding strongman, is from ‘The Game Changers’ (2018). Presented by James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokovic and Chris Paul, this is a revolutionary film about meat, protein and strength.
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#3 Carnage
A fantastical comedy, or ‘mockumentary’, ‘Carnage’ is set in 2067 where the UK is vegan, but older generations are suffering the guilt of their carnivorous past. Written and directed by Simon Amstell in 2017, the film puts forward the case for veganism in a humorous and highly watchable way. No one is safe from scrutiny, not even Meat Free Monday!
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#4 Forks Over Knives
The ground-breaking 2011 film ‘Forks Over Knives’ explores the claim that most, if not all, of the chronic diseases that afflict us can be controlled or even reversed by adopting a whole-food plant-based diet. The documentary follows Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a nutritional biochemist from Cornell University, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a former top surgeon at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, independently discovering how ditching animal-based and processed foods can lead to optimal health.
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#5 Earthlings
Narrated by Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix, directed by Shaun Monson and featuring music from Moby, this trailblazing 2005 feature-length American documentary is about humans’ use of animals – for pets, food, clothing, entertainment and scientific research.
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#6 Cowspiracy
A real eye-opener for many, ‘Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret’ is a 2014 award-winning documentary which follows the American filmmaker Kip Andersen as he investigates the link between animal agriculture and climate change – and questions why many of the world’s leading environmental organisations don’t talk about it.
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#7 Seaspiracy
From the production team behind ‘Cowspiracy’, and backed by Leonardo DiCaprio, the widely talked about 2021 film ‘Seaspiracy’ shadows Ali Tabrizi, a British filmmaker and ocean lover, as he documents human destruction of marine life and exposes alarming global corruption.
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And last, but not least, our very own …
#8 One Day a Week
With appearances by Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney, Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone, our documentary short ‘One Day a Week’, released ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 23) in 2017, highlights the damaging environmental impact of animal agriculture.
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