I AM AN ANIMAL: THE STORY OF INGRID NEWKIRK AND PETA, AN EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT THE ENIGMATIC WOMAN BEHIND THE CONTROVERSIAL ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUP, DEBUTS NOV. 19 ON HBO

When it comes to feelings like hunger, pain, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. - Ingrid Newkirk

Ingrid Newkirk may be the most influential person most people have never heard of. President and co-founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Newkirk has sparked controversies around the world for more than 25 years, engineering radical campaigns for animal rights that have encompassed everything from undercover investigations to anti-fur protests to naked demonstrations.

Directed by Matthew Galkin, I AM AN ANIMAL: THE STORY OF INGRID NEWKIRK AND PETA provides an unprecedented portrait of a very private person committed to a very public crusade, and offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the animal rights group, when it debuts MONDAY, NOV. 19 (8:00-9:15 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. The film recently won the Golden Starfish Best Documentary Award at the 2007 Hamptons International Film Festival.

Other HBO playdates: Nov. 19 (4:35 a.m.), 21 (2:00 p.m.), 25 (4:45 p.m.), 27 (5:00 p.m., 11:30 p.m.) and 30 (3:15 p.m.), and Dec. 3 (12:45 a.m.) and 8 (1:30 p.m.).
HBO2 playdate: Nov. 29 (midnight) and Dec. 14 (4:40 a.m.), 20 (11:45 a.m.) and 30 (3:30 p.m.).

An unflinching look at the iconic leader of the world’s largest animal rights organization, I AM AN ANIMAL goes behind the scenes to reveal Newkirk’s public and private sides, from her childhood to the present. Given unprecedented, exclusive access to PETA, including its video archives and undercover investigations, the film includes often-graphic footage of animal cruelty that fuels Newkirk’s campaigns against research facilities, meat processing factories and fashion establishments. It also features an in-depth look at the emotional challenges faced by a young undercover agent who is trying to gather evidence of cruelty at a turkey-processing plant.

With more than one million members, including such celebrity supporters as Pink, Pamela Anderson, Alec Baldwin and Bill Maher, PETA has been described as the most successful radical organization in America. The group seeks “total animal liberation,” meaning no meat and dairy in people’s diets, as well as no aquariums, circuses, hunting or fishing, and fur or leather products. PETA does not believe in using animals for medical research, even if human lives can be saved, and opposes the use of seeing-eye dogs.

PETA’s direction and strategies are a direct reflection of the single-minded Newkirk, who is both revered and despised for her uncompromising beliefs and her willingness to give offense to make her point. Her radical stance contrasts sharply with her soft-spoken, unassuming manner.

Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, says that PETA has “trivialized animal rights. They have exploited racism and women in campaigns, using people as props to project animal rights.” To Newkirk, saving the lives of innocent animals is worth the criticism that PETA receives for its controversial marketing strategies. One of her most famous slogans compares pent-up chickens and pigs to the Jews in the Holocaust. Responding to charges of insensitivity, Newkirk says, “Sometimes the only way you get discussion on a table is to do something jarring.”

Newkirk works tirelessly, often putting in 18-hour days, and performing many of PETA’s hands-on operations herself. I AM AN ANIMAL follows Newkirk as she conducts several rescue missions, including saving a malnourished dog living outside a trailer home and recovering a turkey who escaped a processing plant. The documentary also chronicles the staging of a protest against “fur abuser” Jean Paul Gaultier, as Newkirk and her PETA colleagues take over his Paris boutique, smearing fake blood on themselves and the store windows.

Ingrid Newkirk, who lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment with few possessions, co-founded PETA in 1980 with Alex Pacheco. Currently headquartered in Norfolk, Va., PETA has 300 employees and an annual operating budget of $25 million. Newkirk has expressed the desire that, after her death, her skin be turned into wallets, her feet into umbrella stands, and her flesh into “Newkirk Nuggets” to be grilled on a barbeque - all as a statement of animal solidarity.

I AM AN ANIMAL is Matthew Galkin’s first film as solo director. His previous credits include the HBO documentary series “Family Bonds” and “loudQUIETloud,” a feature documentary chronicling The Pixies’ 2004 reunion tour, which he co-produced and co-directed with Steven Cantor. Steven Cantor, a producer of I AM AN ANIMAL, founded Stick Figure Productions. He won an Emmy(r) for his film “Willie Nelson: Still Is Still Moving”; Cantor also received an Academy Award(r) nomination for producing and directing the short documentary “Blood Ties: The Life and Work of Sally Mann,” and an Emmy(r) nomination for producing the feature “Devil’s Playground.”

I AM AN ANIMAL: THE STORY OF INGRID NEWKIRK AND PETA was directed and produced by Matthew Galkin; producers, Mikaela Beardsley, Steven Cantor and Pax Wassermann; editor, Tim K. Smith; associate producer, Bryan Quinn; director of photography, Jonathan Furmanski; music, James Lavino. For HBO: supervising producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

Technorati Tags: HBO Pictures, Documentary, I AM AN ANIMAL, The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and Peta, Stick Figure Productions, Priscilla Feral, Animal Activist, Animal Rights

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