A Dairy Story has been reviewed in The Guardian ahead of its UK cinema release.
Critic Phil Hoad awarded the film three stars, describing it as making “a handsome case that change is possible.” The review tells the story at the film’s centre: David and Wilma Finlay’s decision to attempt what no farm in Europe had done at commercial scale, keeping dairy calves with their mothers, and the years of risk and setback that followed before the system proved itself.
The review also places A Dairy Story within what The Guardian has called neo-rural cinema, a growing wave of British films about farming, land and the countryside that has emerged over the past few years. The paper coined the term in an earlier feature exploring the trend, and its use here puts the film in the company of a movement of documentaries and dramas reconnecting British audiences with the working countryside.
For a self-distributed film made by a two-person team without funding, a review in a national newspaper on release week is a rare marker, and a welcome one. The full review is available on The Guardian’s website.
A Dairy Story opens in UK cinemas on 4 August, beginning at the Cameo Picturehouse in Edinburgh, with screenings across the UK through the autumn. Full dates are on our screenings page.
What you told us
Audiences told us they left A Dairy Story feeling inspired. Over half were new to the cinema they saw it in, and nine in ten would go back.
Audience survey launched as community screenings approach
A one-week audience survey has been launched alongside the film’s published distribution plan, ahead of community screening bookings opening on 18 October.
The Distribution Plan
As our festival run ends, find out where A Dairy Story is on its distribution journey, including roughly when it will be available for community screenings in the UK and around the world.