Moo-vie stars compete at Sundance Festival
‘I can’t believe the company I will be keeping,’ says farmer-star of dairy documentary
On the Sussex, England farm where he struggles to make a living with a herd of 55 dairy cows, Stephen Hook’s life could not be further removed from those of Hollywood Alisters such as Scarlett Johansson and Ashton Kutcher.
But these are the people with whom he will be rubbing shoulders this week after a low-budget movie in which he stars was selected to compete in the biggest U.S. independent film festival.
The Moo Man, a 90-minute documentary about Hook’s battle to stay afloat against the might of the big supermarkets, has been selected to compete at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, founded by Robert Redford.
Other films on offer include a biopic of Apple’s Steve Jobs, starring Kutcher, and Don Jon’s Addiction, the story of a pornography addict featuring Johansson.
For Hook, whose close relationship with his herd was captured by the Sussex-based Trufflepig production company, it will be an odd experience. “I can’t believe the company I will be keeping in the next few days,” he said. “We have such a quiet life normally, but we have a great film and I am sure it will be popular. It started being about one farmer bucking the trend and taking on the supermarkets, but in the end what came across most strongly was the characters of the cows. Like humans, they are all different characters. But they are beautiful animals and worthy of the red carpet treatment.”
The Moo Man has been entered in the World Documentary category at the festival, where it will receive only its second showing — after a private viewing for 100 family and friends at a small cinema in Hailsham, near the farm.
It will be pitched against rival offerings including Pussy Riot, a study of the Russian punk protest band.
In The Moo Man, the limelight is stolen by Ida, a 12-year-old Friesian. In one scene, Hook takes the cow to Eastbourne to try to generate more business with a beach photo shoot, only to find that Ida enjoys the seaside so much she refuses to leave.
“She is the queen of the herd and just took over,” the farmer said. “She was a natural show-off when the cameras started rolling. We joked that Ida was really milking her screen debut.”
Hook and his father, Phil, have been producing organic milk for more than 20 years.
Andy Heathcote, its director, said: “We wanted to show the extraordinary bond we can still have with the animals we farm.
“It became obvious during filming that Steve has a wonderful relationship with his animals, a bond that most of us have forgotten can exist. But his way of life is seriously under threat.”
The Moo Man is slated to screen in independent theatres in the spring and be released on DVD shortly afterward.