BUTENLAND

By Marc PIERSCHEL

MINDJAZZ PICTURES - as SALES / DISTR Theatrical, DVD-video, VOD, Airline, GERMANY

Social issues - Completed 2019

"Is there a different coexistence between animals and human beings? An affectionate film that invites us to profoundly reconsider our attitude."
Jury, GRANIT Documentary Film Award Hof International Film Festival 2019

Festivals
& Awards

Hof International Film Festival 2019
GRANIT Documentary Film Award
    • Year of production
    • 2019
    • Genres
    • Social issues, Environmental, Documentary
    • Countries
    • GERMANY
    • Languages
    • GERMAN
    • Duration
    • 82 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Marc PIERSCHEL
    • Producer(s)
    • Marc PIERSCHEL (Blackrabbit Images)
    • Synopsis
    • As a dairy farmer in the third generation, Jan Gerdes raises thirty cows on his farm in northern Germany and successfully sells organic milk and cheese. But he struggles with his conscience when he has to sell his cows to the slaughterhouse when the milk yield starts to decrease. He decides to give up his farm. On the day when all the cows are to be taken to the slaughterhouse, there is no room for the last twelve. Instead of ordering a new transport, he and his partner decide to keep the cows on the farm.

      This is the birth of Hof Butenland – Germany’s first cow retirement home. On Butenland many former “farm animals” live at eye level with the people – without having to fulfill any benefits. A peaceful coexistence that seems almost utopian. With their project, Jan Gerdes and Karin Mück are designing a radical counter-model to livestock farming, in which the needs of the animals are at the center, far away from any economic interests.