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. 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.
Contents
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 Archived 8 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine. They are listed below for convenience and to help further investigation:
Danish Crown (pork, beef) company site Europe
Tasty Tom (tomatoes) company site places Netherlands (sample Sat view)
Geflügelhof Latschenberger GmbH (eggs) Biberbach, Austria
Pro Ovo (eggs) company site Biberbach, Austria
Radatz Fleischwaren (pork) company site Vienna, Austria
Marché Couvert de Ciney (beef), Ciney, Belgium
Abattoir et Marché de Bastogne (meat), company siteBastogne, Belgium
Belgian Blue Group s.c.r.l (bulls) company site, Belgium
Zaklady Drobiarskie ‘Kozieglowy’ Sp.zo.o (chickens), company site Kozieglowy, Poland
Nutreco, Skretting, Marine Harvest, Norway, Marine Harvest processing plant Ryfisk at Hjelmeland (fish) company site Hjelmeland, Norway
Vitana (pre-cooked foods), company site, Czech Republic
Solofino (sprinkles) company site, Austria
esco European salt company GmbH & Co. KG (rock salt) company site, Germany
Agrargenossenschaft Cobbelsdorf eG (cereals), Cobbelsdorf Germany
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." It also has an 86/100 on Metacritic, and received two votes in the 2012 Sight & Sound polls of the world's greatest films.
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
Special John Templeton Prize - Visions du Réel documentary film festival, Nyon, Switzerland 2006:
Special Jury Award - International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 2005
Nominations:
Nomination, European Film Award, Prix Arte, 2006