One day after his best actor Academy Award win last year, Joaquin Phoenix joined Los Angeles Animal Save to help rescue a mother and baby cow from an L.A. slaughterhouse. He named them “Liberty” and “Indigo” after his beloved sister and nephew.
Today, L.A. Animal Save released a short documentary by Earthlings filmmaker Shaun Monson – INDIGO – in which Phoenix speaks frankly about the rescue, and visits the cows at their new sanctuary home in an emotional reunion. “We spend one day each year paying homage to our planet, Earth Day, but the other 364 days, we consume with impunity,” Phoenix said. “It’s undeniable the detrimental impact that animal agriculture has on the environment.
This simple act of rescuing Liberty and Indigo…in some ways, it’s just as simple as sparing the lives of these creatures. But it’s also an acknowledgment of not only the destruction they feel at our hands but the environment as a whole. By our actions, we either have the choice to continue to destroy other beings and the environment, or we begin the process of reversing the damage that we’ve done.”
The film premiered online today and is available at https://youtu.be/eJ9iQLfeGBk
A Q&A with the filmmakers aired following the premiere at https://youtu.be/rd7xpy_8UMc
