Eating our Way to Extinction is a compelling new documentary from filmmakers Otto and Ludovic Brockway, and produced by Sir Richard Branson and Kate Winslet (who also narrates the film). Spanning the globe and several continents, the film is an exploration of the adverse effects that mass livestock farming has on our planet — as well as on our health. From the world’s leading scientists to indigenous people in tune with nature and its violently changing state, Eating Our Way to Extinction makes a strong case for us as a society to change our habits and adopt a plant-based diet before it’s too late.  

I recently spoke with the Brockoways about the genesis of the film.

“The two of us have been on this journey for years,” Otto says. “We’ve been going around, giving presentations and stuff, trying to inspire policymakers to make positive changes, to help inspire people to move towards a more plant-based diet, and maybe about three or four years ago we raised a bit of money. We’re very lucky, Richard [Branson] is our uncle and he’s an incredibly supportive one. He’s an incredibly caring person and growing up around him and knowing him personally — he’s just a very kind human being — and as he gets older, his whole being is wanting to help and leave a better planet for the future. So when we asked him if he would help out in the multiple ways that he did, he very kindly said, ‘Yes.’”

“I also did a trip with him many years ago down to Madagascar,” Ludovic adds, “and it was a real eye-opener for the two of us to really see the destruction and the deforestation down there, and I think Richard was quite taken aback by that. So putting his voice to something like this was important. I think we’re very lucky as a family to come together on this one and make it happen.”

Their film is part of a wave of activism from Otto and Ludovic, but are they both practicing vegans?

“We are,” Ludovic says with an assertive nod. 

“I don’t really like to put a label on anyone,” Otto says. “I guess over many years we’ve been making a transition. I think more recently we’ve gone, ‘Yeah, exclusively plant-based.’”

“I think it’s important as filmmakers of what we’ve made,” Ludovic agrees, “we have to lead by example. We’re not preaching that this film is that kind of film. It’s very much: Here is all the information and you guys can now make a more informed decision of what goes on your plate. But if it’s a meal a week or three meals a week, those are all great steps in the right direction. For us guys it took us some time to get to where we are — it’s not easy — but I think we do live in a day and age where technology and food have come a long way, and plant-based products have come a long way, so it’s gotten a lot easier. Our tummies are growing,” he laughs. “So there are no sacrifices on that front.”

Some people might not think of documentaries as being scripted, but oftentimes they are. Otto and Ludovic expanded on the early script and how it differed from the final product: 

“We did write a script before,” Otto says. “The film is quite different to the original script. That’s partially because the situation and the science have also evolved in the five years that we made the film. I think we had many ideas going along. The initial idea has very much evolved. One of the main ideas that we had that is a feature of the film — slightly lesser now — and that’s partly telling the story of these earth changes through the eyes of indigenous cultures. It was very interesting for us. Because we’ve been making films for so many years, we actually met some of these cultures before, and it was just very interesting to hear the same story, the same sentiment, echoed around the world where people who’ve been living in harmony with nature and very much in tune with the cycles of nature — in a way that perhaps we in the cities have lost — to suddenly see after hundreds of years these cycles changing in their words, ‘so violently’."

"You could see the fear in their eyes," he continues, "and when they were telling the younger generation that they would have to prepare because they felt that the world is changing in a way that’s going to be very dangerous. That was something that really hit home for us, and so that was something earlier on in the scriptwriting that we really wanted to put in. Initially, it was kind of the main driver of everything, but then as time went on, the whole film became like a tapestry of different kinds of things that I like to think all work together.” Otto laughs before continuing, “But it’s based on a lot of feedback. We did a lot of audience testing in cinemas and based on quite hard-to-hear-sometimes feedback,” he laughs again, “we carved out the final product basically from that.”

“It was amazing that there were so many people saying the same thing, which blew our minds,” Ludovic chimes in. “We would go from one village to another and there would be the same story. We did Mongolia — we were driving for days across the deserts — and we’d be like ‘How on earth does this guy know where we’re going?’ We’re driving across a dusty land; there’s no road. But then we’d go again to a village and get these amazing interviews — and it’s really powerful stuff — and then we’d go to the next one and it’d be the same thing and it just really blew our minds.”

Producer and narrator Kate Winslet is related to Otto and Ludovic via her marriage to Edward Abel Smith (Richard Branson’s nephew), and she also took a hands-on role in the project from the start.

“Kate’s been with us since ground zero pretty much,” Ludovic says. “She’s a hugely giving being and we call her ‘Mother Earth’ to ourselves,” Ludovic laughs. “She’s a very special person and she jumped at the idea and she’s been incredibly helpful. She guided us through a lot, she introduced us to a lot of people. We’ve been incredibly lucky to have her and to have her voice.”

“She almost has this mothering nature,” Otto adds. “This very nurturing and caring nature about her and that’s been very much a big help to us. One thing that’s amazing about Kate is she has worked on so many films, she just seems to have an eye for what works and also in terms of the story, the editing; some of the feedback that she’s given along the way, has actually really helped us.”

I did venture to ask what Otto and Ludovic would say to somebody skeptical or reluctant to watch the film.

“I completely understand why anyone would be skeptical,” Otto answers. “My message would be: It’d be very easy to come to some sort of conclusion about something before you’ve given it a chance, but one thing we really set out to do is — aside from tell a story and touch people on an emotional level — is back the film up with studies and the most empirical data that’s coming out of the world’s most respected intellectual institutions. So I would say to anyone before coming to a judgment about it, check it out and see how you feel then.”

Eating Our Way to Extinction plays at selected cinemas for one night only on September 16.