Joaquin Phoenix releases new animal-rights documentary

The new documentary The Animal People made its world premiere at the end of October at the Austin Film Festival. It was executively produced by well-known vegan actor Joaquin Phoenix. This documentary follows the journey of six young Americans who become targeted as terrorists by the US government due to their involvement in a controversial protest. They were well-known for leading protests against Huntingdon Life Sciences, a major animal-testing company.

Phoenix has been vegan since the age of 3 years old and explained what made him want to stop eating animals:

“Me and my siblings witnessed fish being killed in a really violent and aggressive way,” he recalled. “It was just absolutely obvious that it was something that we didn’t want to participate in and we didn’t want to support. To me, it just seems obvious. I don’t want to cause pain to another living empathetic creature.”

Joaquin recently attended a pig vigil in Los Angeles. He’s been spotted at several in recent years but this was the first one since the release of “Joker.”

The documentary features six activists who were interviewed over a decade and portrays how animal rights activism can be classified as terrorism by large and powerful corporations.

“This film is about much more than just this case, it’s about fundamental questions concerning free speech, social change, and corporate power that have never been more urgently relevant in our world” Phoenix stated.

Check out their facebook page The Animal People for more information.