Andy Goes In, a
compelling 10-minute documentary short about a Mercy For Animals undercover
investigator, is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival
next month.
The vast majority of undercover investigations are focused
on exposing animal cruelty and neglect at factory farms, not on the
investigators. This new documentary short is taking a slightly different angle,
however, giving a voice to the unseen heroes who risk everything to bring
animal abusers to justice.
The powerful and heartbreaking film profiles MFA
investigator “Andy, who went to work at a Tyson contract farm in Tennessee. There
he uncovered farm owners beating and stabbing chickens using a spiked club,
standing on the birds’ necks, and throwing live birds into buckets to suffer
and slowly die.
See for yourself:
The owners of the farm, Thomas and Susan Blassingame, were
later convicted of animal cruelty and quit the chicken factory farming business
for good.
We’re so excited that the documentary was accepted into TIFF.
We were also lucky enough to sit down with the director, Josh Polon, to chat about
the film.
What first inspired
you to make this film and when did the process start?
I’ve been familiar with Mercy For Animals’ undercover videos
for a few years, and I’ve always wondered about the human story behind the news
story. What’s it like for an investigator to drive to a small town, take one of
these brutal farm jobs, wear a hidden camera, and hope they’re not discovered?
It’s the stuff of spy movies.
Last summer I asked MFA if I could track an investigation
from up close. They put me in touch with “Andy,” and within two weeks
he was hired by a chicken farm in rural Tennessee and sending me footage every
night. A few weeks later I flew out to join him at the hotel for his final days
on the job.
Your film was just
accepted into the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival. How does
this change the future of the project?
It’s an enormous honor. We’ve decided to piggyback the
online release of Andy Goes In with
the festival next month so everyone can see it right away.
Do you feel that you
have a social responsibility as a filmmaker?
I do. I think there’s a responsibility whenever we’re
telling a person’s story to do it carefully and conscientiously.
There are a few
shocking moments in your film. Which had the greatest effect on you?
The first chicken that Susie killed in front of Andy really got to me. I knew it had to be in the film, and in the early cuts I covered it with a blur effect, like you would see on the local news. But my producer, David, felt strongly that we needed to show the raw footage, and he was right. It’s in there at the two-minute mark.
How has your
perspective changed since you filmed Andy
Goes In?
I’ve gained an incredible amount of respect for
investigators like Andy who bravely risk their physical well-being for the
cause. They’re literally out there alone on small farms in remote rural
settings, working alongside bosses who would be very angry to learn their
hidden agenda.
If viewers took away
one idea from this film, what would you want it to be? What impact do you hope
it has on viewers?
My main goal was to give a sense of how important this work
is to Andy and the lengths he’s willing to go to for it. And hopefully this
inspires people to be a little more courageous in working for the changes they
want to see in the world.
What parts of the
documentary were the most challenging, emotionally or physically, to film?
The toughest part was combing through Andy’s dozens of hours
of undercover footage. It was a stomach-turning week of editing, so my hat is off
to MFA’s video staff who wade through this type of footage all year long, case
after case.
Once Andy Goes In premieres next month, where
will people be able to see it?
On the Mercy For Animals Facebook page.