THE WITNESS: A Tribe of Heart Documentary

THE WITNESS: A Tribe of Heart Documentary

How does a construction contractor from a tough Brooklyn neighborhood become an impassioned animal advocate?

In the award-winning documentary THE WITNESS, Eddie Lama explains how he feared and avoided animals for most of his life, until the love of a kitten opened his heart, inspiring him to rescue abandoned animals and bring his message of compassion to the streets of New York. With humor and sincerity, Eddie tells the story of his remarkable change in consciousness.

THE WITNESS has been an official selection in 32 film festivals where it has received eight awards for Best Documentary and two for Best of Festival. It has been broadcast on the independent film showcases of several regional PBS stations, as well as LinkTV, FreeSpeech TV, and United Kingdom's Community Channel. Thus far, the film has been translated into 11 languages, including Russian and Chinese.

Working hard to overcome the many challenges of growing up in a poor and violent Brooklyn neighborhood, Eddie Lama developed a deep sense of identification with the vulnerable and voiceless beings of our world. In one of the most moving sections of The Witness, he describes the harrowing experience of being beaten and left for dead, crying out for help and no one responding. Eddie then shares how this trauma helped him understand the plight of animals, who so often endure violence with no one to even witness their tragic fate, much less advocate on their behalf.


THE WITNESS in other languages:

PORTUGUÊS - A Testemunha - Um Documentário da Tribe of Heart

SVENSKA - Vittnet - En dokumentär från Tribe of Heart

ESPAÑOL (SUBTITULADA) - El Testigo - Un documental de Tribe Of Heart

ESPAÑOL (DOBLADA) - El Testigo - Un documental de Tribe Of Heart (DOBLADA)

РУССКИЙ - "Свидетель", документальной ленты Племени Сердец

SUOMALAINEN -The Witness - todistaja

POLSKI -Świadek - Film dokumentalny zrealizowany przez Tribe of Heart

HRVATSKI - Svjedok - Dokumentarni film organizacije Tribe of Heart

SLOVENIAN - Priča - Dokumentarni film organizacije Tribe of Heart

VIỆT -Người Chứng Kiến - Một phim tài liệu của Tribe of Heart

עברית - העד - סרט תיעודי מבית היוצר Tribe of Heart

ČESKY - Svědek - Dokumentární film od Tribe of Heart


In 2001, the Peace Abbey gave Eddie their Courage of Conscience Award.

Upon accepting it, he said, "In my lifetime I have been both the oppressor and the oppressed, both the fomenter of discord and the advocate for peace, both the perpetrator and the victim. But most significantly, I have been both the silence and the voice. It is the human voice that is the primary tool for change."

Eddie’s willingness to so openly share both the dark and the light of his own life has inspired many of those who have seen The Witness to follow his example, making a conscious decision to do all they can not to participate in the exploitation of others, be they “two-legged” or “four-legged.”

Interview Eddie Lama with Animal Libration Front

Transcript of Eddie Lama, star of The Witness and founder of the Oasis Sanctuary, May 1, 2002

Buy the DVD: http://www.witnessfilm.org/

Tribe Of Heart shop: http://www.tribeofheart.org/shop/main.htm

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Animals Are Someone

Animals Are Someone

This series of images asks the question:

What does it feel like to a sensitive, intelligent individual to be loved, to be safe, to be at peace, to be seen and treated as someone, the way Sanctuary animals are? And what must it feel like to the same individual to be treated as a mere something to be confined, mutilated and killed for someone's whim?

Being Someone

Posters by Joanna Lucas for Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary, from the original series "I am Someone" http://peacefulprairie.org/outreach/someone2.html

Posters by Joanna Lucas for Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary, from the original series 'Being Someone' http://peacefulprairie.org/outreach/beingSomeone.html

Happy Cows ~ Behind The Myths


In order to maintain uninterrupted milk production, cows are forced year after year to go through an endless cycle of pregancy and birth, only to have their calves immediately taken from them. Cows and calves cry out for each other as they are separated.

All forms of dairy farming involve forcibly impregnating cows. This involves a person inserting his arm far into the cow's rectum in order to position the uterus, and then forcing an instrument into her vagina. The restraining apparatus used is commonly called a "rape rack."

Half of all calves born are male. Of no use in milk production, they are sent to veal-producing operations or directly to auctions where they are sold and slaughtered when they are just a few days old. Male calves used for veal production suffer a crude castration process and are killed after 4 months spent in small crates or pens.

After just 4 to 6 years, dairy cows are "spent" from being forced to continuously produce milk. Often weak and ill, they endure transport to auction and slaughter, both of which are traumatic for these gentle animals. If allowed to exist free of exploitation and slaughter, cows can live 25 years or more.


~I Am Someone~

Posters by Joanna Lucas for Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary, from the original series 'Being Someone' http://peacefulprairie.org/outreach/beingSomeone.html

Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home

Open your eyes. Trust your heart. Take the journey. This award-winning, life-changing documentary features five farmers, a humane officer, an animal rescuer, and a cow named Snickers, who will make you laugh and cry, expand your consciousness, and challenge your ideas about farmers, farm life, and perhaps most surprisingly, the animals themselves.

More info at: http://www.PeaceableKingdomFilm.org

"When we tell ourselves we're eating meat from "humanely raised animals," we're leaving out a huge part of the equation. The slaughtering of an animal is a bloody and violent act, and death does not come easy for those who want to live."
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

Animal Rights Links


Vegan Recipe & Cooking Links


Herbal & Garden Links


Martha Magenta's Poetry Links


General Topic Links