Joaquin Phoenix to produce new film about animal sentience

Joaquin Phoenix has revealed he is the executive producer of a new film about pig sentience.

Gunta was created by award-winning Russian filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky and looks at the daily life of a pig and her three animal companions: two cows and a chicken.

Kossakovsky's previous work includes the 2018 documentary Aquarela, which looked at bodies of water around the world.

Speaking to Screen Daily, Phoenix said he was “deeply moved by [Gunda]” and called it a “visceral meditation on existence” that he hopes will change the way people perceive animal intelligence.

“Gunda is a mesmerising perspective on sentience within animal species, normally – and perhaps purposely – hidden from our view,” he said.

“Displays of pride and reverence, amusement and bliss at a pig’s inquisitive young; her panic, despair and utter defeat in the face of cruel trickery, are validations of just how similarly all species react and cope with events in our respective lives.”

Phoenix went on to call the documentary a “a film of profound importance and artistry”.

The 45-year-old was recently filmed rescuing a cow and her calf from a slaughterhouse in Los Angeles, two days after he delivered a speech at the Oscars about “plundering” our natural resources.

The animals were later transported to a Farm Sanctuary-used facility.