G-SPrOuT!

*** Praise for G-SprOuT! *** The program’s only documentary is G-SPrOuT (***), a film that neatly rolls the themes of sex and death into one. Directors Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky explore the topic of vegans and vegetarians who only date their own kind. The first five minutes of the doc seem like an elaborate joke, as two online vegans with the handles Tofutits and Soyboy meet in a chat room. Over graphic footage of them having sex, the directors superimpose interviews with vegans and vegetarians explaining their preferences. What the veggies have to say fulfills the stereotype of vegans as crunchy, militant types who waffle on about “sensing and feeling desire without words” and “creating a type of magic” with a non-meat-eating partner. (Meat-eaters in the audience may squirm to learn that they apparently have six pounds of dead animal festering in their gut.)  However, the tone shifts midway through the film, as the background images change from oral sex to scenes from slaughterhouses. These kinds of images aren’t new, but the directors manage to invest them with fresh significance. G-SPrOuT’s jokey tone gives way to a meaningful discourse of the level of commitment — both political and personal — it takes to be an animal rights activist. Catharine Tunnacliffe, EYE Magazine (Dec. 6, 2001)

Sex, violence, cultural critique–it’s all there in G-SPrOuT!, a film that seduces you with the visual sensuality of hot queer sex followed by thrusting political insight.  Across differences of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and species, G-SPrOuT! is unapologetically transsexual/transgender, pro-sex and pro-animal rights.  This film clarifies the connections between what we eat and who we eat.  In twelve fast-moving minutes it explains the connections between queer & tranny rights, sexual freedom, and inter-species justice.  It’s a real eye-opener–probably because the images are so compelling, you can’t stop looking!  G-SPrOuT! is an eloquent tool for justice.Greta Gaard, Associate Professor and Coordinator, GLBT Studies Program, Western Washington University.  Gaard’s books include Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature (1993), Ecological Politics: Ecofeminists and the Greens (1998), and Ecofeminist Literary Criticism (1998).

“ … pretty damn subversive and extremely well-done.  Just-say-no-to kinda flick.  It’s basic theme is “Vegans taste better.”  It’s neat to see the radical link between sex workers and militant vegetarians, all on the fringe of society, many for socio-political reasons.”Viva Las Vegas, Exotic Magazine

The video confirms that anti-speciesism is seemingly the wild frontier of the anti-oppression movement, if we can conceive of that.  Yet the vegans are not asking us to tame our passions per se–only our violent ones.  They seek a home free and secure from gratuitous human violence, and ultimately, the Earth is our home.David Sztybel, PhD. Philosophy Department, Queen’s University, Canada

It has been an important aspect of my work to make the connections between animal liberation and other social justice movements, as I believe all struggles for justice are very intertwined. The connections between diet and sexuality/sensuality is a topic which needs much more attention, and I thank you for what I consider a ground-breaking film on these issues.  I know of no other film like it. The subject matter is presented both humorously and candidly, and the sincerity of the subjects interviewed is evident.  I believe that Mirha-Soleil Ross, along with her co-producer Mark Karbusicky, have a very perceptive and intelligent way to present their issues.David Barbarash, Spokesperson, Animal Liberation Front Press Office. Host and Curator, Black Cat Video/ Vancouver