Blackfish-UK-Quad-PosterGabriela Cowperthwaite’s documentary, Blackfish, made its debut at Sundance this year to very promising early reviews, and was one of the handful of films chosen to make their UK premiere at Sundance London in April.

Whilst at the festival, I heard nothing but good things about the film, and am very much looking forward to its release on our shores.

With only a few more weeks to go before it begins its limited release on both sides of the Atlantic, we’ve got the new UK quad poster to share, with a rather foreboding image of the killer whale, Tilikum, front and centre.

Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the creature’s extraordinary nature, the species’ cruel treatment in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the mulit-billion dollar sea-park industry.

This emotionally wrenching, tautly structured story challenges us to consider our relationship to nature and reveals how little we humans have learned from these highly intelligent and enormously sentient fellow mammals.

The film marks Cowperthwaite’s feature-length directorial debut. And if the reception from Sundance and subsequent film festivals is anything to go by, she’s a powerful new documentarian to watch out for in the years to come.

The Imposter launched at Sundance last year and became one of the most talked-about documentaries of the year, and I’ve got a feeling that Blackfish may well follow in similar footsteps.

Blackfish will begin its limited release in NY and LA on July 19th, and will start to open here in the UK on 26th July. Its release will continue to widen in successive days and weeks in both the UK and US, and you can find your nearest cinema here.

Blackfish-UK-Quad-Poster

 

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