The most controversial movie in the Reel Earth environmental film festival airs tonight.
Organisers of the festival debated whether to run Poisoning Paradise, a film on 1080 possum control in New Zealand, because it caused such a backlash at other screenings around the country.
With one scene showing a cow writhing in pain, dying a slow death after accidentally eating the poison, while its owner sobs and grabs a shotgun to end its misery, the 90-minute film is bitter, harsh, and polarising.
But on the Reel Earth festival's website, organisers said they decided not to shy away from controversial films.
Poisoning Paradise puts the case that dropping 1080 into "New Zealand's pristine forests and streams" is an atrocity threatening our wildlife, our international image, and our people.
The film has been heavily criticised for misrepresenting current practices, using anecdotal evidence but ignoring sound science, cherry-picking experts, failing to recognise the difference between effects on populations and individuals, and on many other grounds, yet the public has had few opportunities to see the film, the website said.
"Despite strong reservations we feel further silencing of Poisoning Paradise is not in your interests.
"We feel it's better to listen to and understand arguments than to try to censor them, and we feel that by refusing to screen Poisoning Paradise we would be telling you we didn't believe you could think clearly enough to assess the film yourself."
The film's co-director, Clyde Graf, said the film presents the facts government departments want to keep hidden.
"I spent a lot of time in the bush and got to see the realities.
"It's deeply disturbing."
The film slams the Conservation Department, but local DOC staff say they're up for the challenge.
A DOC-produced film will run after Poisoning Paradise outlining the other side of the story. Manawatu DOC still drops 1080 in the northwest of the Ruahine Ranges.
Area manager Jason Roxburgh has already seen the film and is encouraging others to go to see it.
"We are really keen to encourage debate.
"If you are arguing a cause, you cannot argue it well unless you know something about the other points of view in the argument, that's why I went to see it."
The Animal Control Board is also criticised in the film.
Spokesman for the board, Mike Hansen, said New Zealand had a serious problem with possums and other pests, which transmitted tuberculosis, destroyed native forests, and killed wildlife.
This problem was completely avoided in the film, which presents an emotive argument against 1080 use, he said.
Ad Feedback "1080 is absolutely critical in our fight against TB. Diseased possums pass through farmland, leaving behind bacteria which infect beef, dairy and venison herds, risking our agricultural industry."
Use of the poison was set to strict guidelines
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