‘They killed my best friend for supper!’ Gunda, the farmyard film that could put you off eating meat for ever

A sow, two cows and a one-legged chicken are the stars of Victor Kossakovsky's unique documentary, which Hollywood's most famous vegan, Joaquin Phoenix, has helped to get the audience it deserves

When Victor Kossakovsky was four, his parents sent him from St Petersburg to stay with his uncle's family in the countryside. It was a cold winter," he says, brrr-ing over Zoom. Minus 30 degrees."

Warmth came from the boy's friendship with a one-month-old piglet named Vasya. They were inseparable - until she became cutlets for New Year's Eve supper.