Filming for freedom with animal rights activist Haru Lev
Interview by Jamie Finn (@jamiefinn2209)
Through his various projects and activities, Haru Lev has many different roles. He's a filmmaker, an artist, a rapper, a musician, and a film festival programmer. But one of his roles trumps all the others and stands out, dictating the meaning and form of all his projects: Haru Lev is an activist. It is through this lens, the lens of counter-culturalism and of protest, that we can best understand his work. The movies that Haru has produced all attempt to communicate his worldview. All the films he directs, all the music he has produced, and all the projects he has organised are designed to make an argument for the progressive values that Haru keeps close to his heart.
Haru Lev's latest project, Planet A: OST, is a compilation album featuring the work of performers who share a passion for animal rights. Each track acts as a protest in favour of better treatment of animals and argues for a vegan lifestyle. The album came out November 1st, and a few months later, an omnibus of short films (one for each track) was released.
Most of the acts featured on Planet A are vegan, but Lev tells us that this wasn't a prerequisite for being included. "I tried to work with mostly vegan artists, but that wasn't essential," Haru tells us. "They don't have to be vegan to talk about the issues on the album, but I prefer it if they are. I think it's more powerful to have a group of vegans speaking together."
He's right. Not only does having performers concerned with animal rights work together on the album add weight to the message, but it does help to promote the cause of veganism in a country that isn't always accepting of it. "Being a vegan in Korea isn't always easy. It was important for me to show there were bands and musicians here who want to reject a violent industry. I wanted to work with activists who take a stand."
The album features some amazing artists such as Billy Carter, Dead Buttons, Fat Hamster, Hucklberryfinn and Haru himself, who appears on several tracks. It's an incredible listen with a broad range of styles and aesthetics that still sound connected to each other. But which song is Haru most excited for people to hear? "I am really excited for people to hear my song," he laughs. "It's called Animal Disqualification, and it's a direct criticism of humanity and its treatment of non-human animals."
The video that accompanies Animal Disqualification will be a short documentary piece about the factory farming industry in Korea. Haru's previous work has dealt with factory farming but only abroad. Recording the footage for Last Night led Haru to have a small crisis of conscience. "When I was filming the factory farm scenes," he recalls, "I was surprised by how OK I felt. I was actually kind of worried about how desensitised I was. I felt like I was becoming a psychopath or that I was overexposed to cruelty and becoming numb." This is something many vegans go through at times when their passion for the cause is less palpable. "When I edited the videos, though, seeing the footage over and over again, you see their eyes, you notice the same animals, and I felt deep grief again. It's a weird feeling to edit footage of animals who are already dead. I just hope it becomes a powerful video that can change people's habits.”
Haru believes that it is vital to overcome these kinds of challenges and spread awareness of the things that you believe in. Awareness is an integral part of what Haru does. The idea is to inform and educate people who may not be aware of how animals are treated. This is true of every country, but especially true of Korea, where there is a certain amount of denialism about the treatment animals receive. "We don't have much footage of factory farms here in Korea. Movies like Dominion (2018) show factory farming in other countries. People here watch that, and it's too easy for them to distance themselves from it and dismiss it. They say, "Oh, that's just those countries; we wouldn't do something like that here." For Planet A, I managed to film some factory farms in Korea and can hopefully show people here the reality."
In Korea, veganism has become somewhat of a trend. An increasing number of people are identifying themselves as vegan or expressing an interest in a vegan lifestyle. When asked about how much things have changed, Haru isn't sure. "It's hard for me to say how much things have changed," he says, "because I live in a vegan-queer-feminist bubble, so it feels like things have changed a lot, but I don't know for sure. I do think things are getting better, though."
Despite a growing awareness of veganism, there are still some areas where knowledge needs to be improved. One example of this is the juxtaposition between how common eating meat is and the extent the meat industry goes to block any exposure of their practices. People who work in the Korean meat industry are incredibly guarded about letting people see how they operate. This is especially true when compared to other countries. "I was travelling in Taiwan, and I visited some farms." Haru has visited many different countries, both as an activist and a traveller. "In Taiwan, they didn't try to hide it. Even the battery farming cages were out in the open. It was easy to film, and the farmers won't stop you. People there think that is normal and "yeah, this is how animals should be treated"." It's different in Korea, though; "Here, the farm industry stops us from seeing. They think people here will be disturbed. It shows that they know they are doing something wrong. I really believe, or at least I hope, that if people here see what it's like, they wouldn't want to participate in the injustice. That's what I want to do with my movies, to make a connection between our unconscious behaviours and their consequences."
The idea of creativity as a force for social change is an important one for Haru. This is especially true of his work on Planet A. Haru wants this collection of short films to change people's minds and is optimistic about its chances. It's this optimism that has shaped the form and style of Planet A; "That's why I made it into an omnibus movie. I wanted it to cover a broad range of social topics such as environmentalism and feminism. I tried to show that those issues are all connected to "liberation for all" and that this includes non-human animals. I hope people feel solidarity rather than feel defensive."
Before Planet A, Haru Lev had produced three feature-length documentaries movies. The last two of these, Bluebird Wandering School (2019) and Black Illusion (2019), are both about animal rights and the meat industry. But that's not the only thing that he is interested in. The 2019 movie Bluebird Wandering School is a documentary following him and his brother as they travelled the world. The documentary acts as a statement against the Korean education system, which Haru argues is oppressive and abusive. For the film, Haru took his brother, a high school student at the time, out of school for six months to learn about the world more directly. Travelling around Europe, his brother was able to gain experience and knowledge that Haru believes is more valuable than what can be learned in school. "My parents were happy that I could provide my brother with this experience that they could not afford to provide," Haru tells us when asked about how his parents felt about his brother leaving school for six months. "I think that they had this idea about Europe that helped, though. They thought it was going to be a fancy thing. They were thinking of the idea of Europe that is often presented in media, though of course, that's not the kind of Europe we were really interested in."
There's another movie that Haru made that has, unfortunately, never been released. "During the filming of Bluebird, we spent time with a polyamorous group that lived together in a relationship." The film, which would have been titled Unfiltered Hearts, followed a group of young Danish people as they share their views and experiences of living together in multiple relationships. "Unfortunately, two of the people involved decided not to be polyamorous anymore and have since begun a monogamous relationship together. They didn't want to be in the movie so I couldn't release it. It's sad, but of course, I want to be respectful."
“What I want to do with my movies is to make a connection between our unconscious behaviours and their consequences.”
Since making Unfiltered Hearts, Haru has realised his own polyamorous self, which he argues monogamous society has pressured him out of. He believes that it is a lifestyle that is subject to more prejudice than people realise. "I've seen that there is a lot of hatred towards people who live like that. It is similar to the discrimination that people in the queer community feel."
This, however, is just one step on Haru's journey of identifying his sexuality and gender. Lev recently came out as trans and now identifies himself as male: "A few months ago, I started to feel like a little strange about my gender identity. I started talking to my friend who is very involved in the local queer community, and they said it sounded like I was trans-gay. So I did some research, and everything I read sounded exactly like what I was feeling. It felt like a huge release for me." Haru sounded slightly coy about sharing this information, but he insists that the opposite is true: "It's all still very new to me, of course," he says proudly. "But I hope I get the opportunity to tell more people about my experiences. I want to give people the courage to accept who they are."
Despite the different subjects covered in Haru's films, one thing connects his movies: watching them is an optimistic, inspiring experience. His worldview is so appealing that it is impossible not to be drawn into it. You believe in the possibility that you can inhabit worlds different to your own: worlds of compassion and worlds of joy. They're worlds that you know exist but that you've let yourself believe can never be occupied by you, that it's too late for you. Haru tells stories that engage in rhetoric, and he is arguing for his ethos and his beliefs. That is all the more effective because he sells you on the idea that you can live in those worlds, too. You can be better and be all the things you aspire to be.
All of Haru Lev's feature work has come in the form of documentaries. "I don't think I could make fiction movies. For one, I don't work well with others," he laughs. "I like the independence that you get from documentary filmmaking. I want to have all the control of the production regardless of how much work there is. Also, I like the unplanned nature of documentaries."
Filmmaking isn't the only thing that Haru Lev is involved with. "I recently got signed to a publisher, so, as soon as I've finished Planet A, I am going to start writing a book. It's about animal rights and my experiences travelling. It's going to be a written version of my lecture called "Why We Must Speak Out Against Injustice and Take Direct Action?". I talk about my journey and how I became an activist. It will mostly be stories of my travelling experiences include and the crucial moments that made me who I am."
Last year, he produced the song Don't Ask Me, a short but powerful track that challenges a range of misogynistic positions, from the institutional to the violent. The track samples the infectious chants of the anti-sexual violence protests in Chile from early last 2020. Those chants spread throughout the world, becoming a battle cry for those opposing sexual violence and assault.
It's safe to say that Haru is a very productive person. He's very busy with his creative projects, but most of them don't generate much revenue. "I am fine with that, though," he tells us. "I don't need much money. I live very minimally. People work so hard, and they still seem to have no money in the end, so what is the point? I choose to live outside the capitalistic system as much as possible. I am not completely free from that, of course, but I try my best not to surrender entirely to capitalism."
Despite this, Planet A was able to generate enough money to help some of his peers in the world of music and animal rights activism. For Haru, this was one of the most rewarding things about the crowdfunded project. "We received the full funding quickly, which is good. I was grateful that I could pay some local vegan artists for their work on the album. Things like mixing, mastering, design, things like that. It wasn't much, but I was glad that I could help the community." That's what is so great about Haru Lev and the Planet A project. Everything he does connects to his fiercely held ethos. More importantly, though, it is all community-focused and driven by the idea of inclusion.
The album has been available online since November and has been getting tonnes of positive reviews (such as one that you'll find in the review section of this issue). By the time this magazine comes out, the short films accompanying them should have also been released. It is a must-hear for everyone - whether they already agree with Haru Lev or not.
For more information on Haru Lev, follow him here.
