Our Daily Bread (German: Unser täglich Brot) is a 2005 documentary film directed, co-produced, and with cinematography by Nikolaus Geyrhalter. The script was co-written by Wolfgang Widerhofer and Nikolaus Geyrhalter.
The film depicts how modern food production companies employ technology to produce food on large scales. It consists mainly of actual working situations without voice-over narration or interviews as the director tries to let viewers form their own opinion on the subject.[1] The names of the companies where the footage was filmed are purposely not shown. The director's goal is to provide a realistic view on the internal workings of multiple food production companies in our modern society.[2]
Foods transformations
Different processes in agriculture and food processing plants are shown in the film. Since scenes are mixed, food transformations are listed below with no particular order.
Semen to pigs
Pigs to meat
Semen to cows
Cows to meat
Cows to milk
Eggs to chickens
Chickens to eggs
Chickens to meat
Fish
Crops and field harvests (misc)
Tomatoes in rock wool
Salads night harvest
Peppers
Cucumbers
Apples
Olives harvest
Salt from mines
Places and companies
The names of the companies where the footage was filmed are provided on the official site in the booklet pdf. They are listed below for convenience and to help further investigation:
Chiquita Deutschland (bananas) company site, Germany
Sucatrans BVBA (transport of art), Belgium
The Greenery (vegetables/fruits), company site, Netherlands
Jamnica d.d., (mineral water) company site, Sveta Jana (???), Croatia
Ferme la Béole (farm hostel) Belgium
SAD s.r.o. (equipment?) Brezno, Slovakia
Reception
Our Daily Bread has a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus stated as, "A matter-of-fact, nearly wordless documentary, Our Daily Bread's spare presentation of slaughterhouses and human consumption serves up food for thought."[3] It also has an 86/100 on Metacritic,[4] and received two votes in the 2012 Sight & Sound polls of the world's greatest films.[5]
Awards
Award wins:
Grand Prix, Festival International du Film d'Environnement, Paris, 2006
EcoCamera Award, Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal, 2006
Best Film, Ecocinema International Film Festival Athens 2006
Honourable Mention, Special Jury Prize - International Feature - Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival Toronto 2006
