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MILKED

MILKED is a feature documentary that exposes the whitewash of New Zealand’s multi-billion-dollar dairy industry.

A young activist goes deep into dairy land where he takes on the giants of New Zealand’s most powerful industry and reveals how the sacred cash-cow industry has been milked dry. His journey exposes not only the sustainability crisis and the dangerous denial of impending agricultural disruption, but also what New Zealand and other countries can do to change their fate.

Executive Produced by Keegan Kuhn (Cowspiracy, What the Health) and Suzy Amis Cameron (The Game Changers)

  • Amy Taylor
    Director
  • Amy Taylor
    Writer
  • Amy Taylor
    Producer
  • Chris Huriwai
    Key Cast
  • Suzy Cameron
    Key Cast
    The Game Changers, Titanic, The Usual Suspects
  • Jane Goodall
    Key Cast
    Jane, The Hope, Jane's Journey
  • Keegan Kuhn
    Key Cast
    Cowspiracy, What the Health, Running for Good, They're Trying to Kill US, Turlock
  • Amy Taylor
    Editor
  • Debbie Matthews
    Editor
  • Chris Huriwai
    Co-Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 1, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    200,000 NZD
  • Country of Origin:
    New Zealand
  • Country of Filming:
    New Zealand
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4k
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • New Zealand International Film Festival
    Auckland
    New Zealand
    October 31, 2021
    World Premiere
  • IndieFEST Film Awards

    Best of Show
  • Spotlight Documentary Film Awards

    Gold Award
  • Impact DOCS Film Awards

    Best of Show, and Excellence Award for Women Filmmakers
  • WaterBear

    March 18, 2022
    Global
  • IndieFEST Humanitarian Award

    Grand Prize
Distribution Information
  • WaterBear
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
Director Biography - Amy Taylor

Amy Taylor studied environmental science and marine biology before completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Natural History Filmmaking & Science Communication at the University of Otago. As an independent filmmaker, she is driven by the potential that storytelling has to open windows into different worlds, reveal the truth, and create positive change.

Amy has spent over 20 years working with non- profit organizations, helping to shine a spotlight on environmental and social justice issues. Combining her love of the natural world with a creative skill set, she focuses on stories exploring connections between people and nature.

Her first feature-length documentary, Soul in the Sea, premiered at NZIFF, won awards internationally, and was nominated at the prestigious Jackson Hole Wildlife film festival.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I’ve been involved with environmental and animal advocacy for most of my life, so making MILKED has been a natural extension of that. In 2018 I directed The Cube of Truth, a short film about Chris Huriwai and his life as an animal rights activist. We talked about working together on a feature documentary, but it took another few months for an idea to take shape. Chris had posted some dairy-related content on social media that re-inspired me, and in mid 2019 we both committed to this project.

We originally planned to investigate the environmental and health impacts of all animal agriculture in Aotearoa, but once we got further into researching, it was obvious that dairy was the story to tell. And with dairy giant Fonterra inviting Chris to meet with them and then backing out, we became even more curious about what was going on.

We’d both seen Cowspiracy, and agreed that our film had to be entertaining but also based on solid science. My background is science communication and wildlife filmmaking, and we knew the challenge would be conveying important information but also telling a story.

We figured that, in Cowspiracy-style, we could make a documentary with me as the one-person film crew following Chris on a journey uncovering the truth. But what we uncovered was even more shocking than what we could have imagined. It’s clear that this is a subject many people are concerned about, and along the way we had a huge amount of support for this project. Ending up with Keegan Kuhn (Co- director of Cowspiracy) as an Executive Producer was a fortuitous twist of fate, and having Suzy Amis Cameron involved as an Executive Producer has also been an incredible outcome, helping validate how important the message is, and amplifying the impact of the film.

With each interview, we understood more clearly just how alarming and wide-reaching the impacts of the dairy industry were, despite our country’s claim to be the world’s best dairy producers. But we also felt hopeful learning about the alternatives and solutions - how farmers can transition away from animal agriculture, and how through the simple act of what we choose to eat, we can create a more positive future for people, the planet, and the animals we share it with. We can’t sustainably produce enough animal protein to feed the world’s growing population, and it’s time to wake up to that truth and focus on a new way forward.