We recently created this animation for a short story called 'Hope for Humanity', about social change and the importance of treating all sentient beings with respect. This piece mixes the issues of veganism and freedom within a deeper spiritual context which provides a solution for the consequences of humanities fate.

Our Take – Small Axe Radical Short Film Reviews by Cole Diment

Hope for Humanity breaks the contemplative, drawn-out tone of much of the programme this year. Instead, at a short 2:18, this film’s direct VoiceOver and forceful visuals pack a punch, forcing us to confront our own complicity in structural violence. Whilst the question remains of the true critique at play (is it individual consumption or a few corporations we should hold responsible) Hope for Humanity nonetheless proffers a cross-species politics in the interest of all sentient beings. 

The main analogue between humans and animals oppression that the film represents are the notions of captivity, surveillance and control. At the same time that 100 billion sentient beings will begin and end their lives in controlled farming conditions the surveillance state is tightening its grip around humans everywhere. Urban landscapes look more and more designed as if for social control, and if not for social control to breed crime by design. Add to this the extortionate jailing rates in the UK and US, some of the highest in the world, and captivity seems to have become a birth right for all. The analogue to animals is not framed as a regressive factor as in many animal comparisons. Rather, it can be the foundation of an inter-species movement for freedom. 

Hope for Humanity calls in hope in an intriguing way. In some sense it recalls the sage Jiddu Krishnamurti’s dominant idea; that the outer world constitutes and is affected by our inner world. It goes that revolution, if we are talking about a true revolution, will have to be psychic as well as social. Once we change our minds our interaction with the world may also change. Is this enough to keep alive the hope of the future? 

We have been asked to link four resources to Adam and Black Cat’s film:

www.boldcontentvideo.com
Adam’s company who made the script come to life

www.adventurestoriesforgirls.com 
The blog where the full article ‘Hope for Humanity’ is found and other articles on environmental and social justice issues.

www.sustainweb.org
An organisation who are working towards introducing peri-organic fringe farming in London.

www.foodforalluk.com  
A London food bank making thousands of meals each day including during the pandemic.