The Grand Illusion

Part of our “Pandemic Rewind” series of films that were robbed of the theatrical experience.

Experiential cinema in its purest form, Gunda chronicles the unfiltered lives of a mother pig, a flock of chickens, and a herd of cows with masterful intimacy. Using stark, transcendent black and white cinematography and the farm’s ambient soundtrack, director Victor Kossakowsky invites the audience to slow down and experience life as his subjects do, taking in their world with a magical patience and an other worldly perspective. Gunda asks us to meditate on the mystery of animal consciousness, and reckon with the role humanity plays in it. Executive Produced by Joaquin Phoenix.

Amazing plant-based bakers Lazy Cow Bakery will be at the Sunday screening to talk about the opening of their brick-and-mortar location in Fremont.

“Gunda is pure cinema… It’s jaw dropping images and sound put together with the best ensemble cast and you have something more like a potion than a movie.” Paul Thomas Anderson

“You don’t have to be an animal lover to appreciate the craft and the genuine poetic vision of a film which, though strictly unsentimental, is intensely moving, transfixing and quite genuinely unique.” Jonathan Romney, Screen International

“CRITIC’S PICK! Sublimely beautiful and profoundly moving, it offers you the opportunity to look – at animals, yes, but also at qualities that are often subordinated in narratively driven movies, at textures, shapes and light.” Manohla Dargis, New York Times