By Kayla Morin
Have you ever been forcibly impregnated in a confined space, given birth to multiple babies, had all your milk stolen, then had those babies quickly taken away from you for slaughter?
Of course not, but millions of cows experience this every day.
That’s the underlying message of Stephanie Braganza's "Chains of Silence", a Callowgrove Entertainment music video directed by Chris Strikes. The film is a commentary on the meat and dairy industry, using the female body is an analogy for how cows are treated.
“She wanted to tell a story that put herself in that position,” says Strikes, “but with a sci-fi tone to it. So obviously we’re not going to have cows cut up humans, so what it is, instead of that– it’s aliens.”
Braganza posted a call out for directors in a Facebook group for vegans, which led to her pitching the idea to Strikes. Meat and dairy free since 2013, Strikes loved the idea and worked with her to finesse the details, bringing the vision into reality.
“Seeing how animals were treated sickened me,” remembers Strikes, “and opened my eyes up to not just cutting animals and their byproducts out of my diet, but also avoiding buying any more non-food animal-based things such as leather products, fur-lined hooded coats, men’s grooming products tested on animals, stuff like that. I had grown a deeper compassion for animals and knew I would never, nor could ever, go back to consuming them.”
The shoot was challenging logistically, with a variety of scenes, different elements and everything being shot on a tight budget.
“There is an element to the video that I don’t want to give away because I want you to see it,” says Strikes, “the element that I don’t want to give away is what’s really going to make people feel the video and understand the video.”
That element posed the biggest challenge.
“This was by far the most ambitious and challenging project I've ever produced and/or directed,” states Strikes, “from pre-production right up to the last minute of post-production.”
“I have to give a BIG SHOUT out to all the crew that worked on this who put in a lot of sweat, long hours, hard work and dedication to make this happen,” says Strikes. “The crew was amazing, the cast were really enjoyable to work with and of course Stephanie brought her A game! She was quite the trooper for what I put her through… hahaha.”
Watch "Chains of Silence" below.
