Riveting New Film May Change the Way the World Thinks About Animals

Acclaimed photographer Jo-Anne McArthur has
been documenting the plight of animals around the world for more than 10 years.
Now a haunting new film by award-winning documentary filmmaker Liz Marshall, The Ghosts in Our Machine, chronicles
a year in McArthur’s life as she photographs animals on fur farms and factory
farms and in laboratories, zoos, and aquariums. She
also photographs “the ones who got away” relaxing in rolling pastures
at sanctuaries in the U.S. and Canada. 


“I feel like I’m a war photographer
and I’m photographing history,” McArthur says. “I’m trying to save
the world.”

Every month, The Ghosts in Our Machine names a special “animal ambassador,”
and this month’s pick is PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk, who compares the movie to the groundbreaking anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin: “In much the way
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book …did in its time, this film has the potential to
broaden our view of those around us, to suggest their potential and their
reality, cause us to pick apart our prejudices, and raise the potential for
consideration, understanding and inclusion, to change a world view.”

The Ghosts in Our
Machine
debuted in Toronto late last month and has already won several awards at film
festivals. Look for it at a theater near you in the coming months.