A Dairy Story previews in Norwich with Compassion in World Farming

A Dairy Story previewed at Cinema City in Norwich on 30 July, ahead of the film’s UK release on 4 August. The preview was presented as part of Picturehouse’s Green Screen programme, which brings environmental stories to cinemas across the UK, and marked the first time the film had screened in England outside the festival circuit.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring Philip Lymbery, Global CEO of Compassion in World Farming, alongside David Finlay, the farmer at the centre of the film, and Rebecca Mayhew of Old Hall Farm in Norfolk, a farmer who has adopted a cow-with-calf approach.

Compassion in World Farming became an official partner of A Dairy Story earlier this year. The world’s leading farm animal welfare organisation has campaigned for more than fifty years for higher-welfare food systems.

The discussion after the film ranged widely from the practicalities of running a cow-with-calf system at commercial scale, to the emotional repercussions of following a different path from your peers. Rebecca Mayhew spoke about her own farm’s journey, one of a growing number of UK dairies now keeping calves with their mothers, and the audience stayed well beyond the scheduled finish to continue the conversation with the panel.

Norwich was the first of the film’s Green Screen preview events, with the full UK release following at the Cameo Picturehouse in Edinburgh on 4 August and further Q&A screenings in Exeter, Bath, Henley and Brighton through August.