On Wednesday, February 10, 2026, the Critical Animal and Media Studies course hosted a compelling afternoon session dedicated to reflecting on how farmed animals are represented in both anthropological research and documentary filmmaking.

The program kicked off at 14:30 with Surama Lázaro, a PhD holder from UNED and an anthropologist specializing in human–animal relations. Titled Exploring Animal Anthropology: Fieldwork, Digital Ethnography, and Life in the Sanctuary, her presentation shared her journey as a researcher in this emerging field. She introduced the core principles of animal anthropology and described her hands-on ethnographic work: conducting fieldwork directly inside animal sanctuaries, where she observed and participated in daily care routines and interspecies dynamics, alongside digital ethnography that analyzes how online images and narratives shape public understandings of animals. Her scholarship delves into profound themes such as anthropomorphism, cross-species empathy, and the ways modern societies include—or marginalize—non-human animals. Among her notable publications are studies on the everyday lives of guide dogs, the cultural positioning of chickens in Western contexts, and the mutual empathy that emerges in sanctuary settings.

Following a 15:45 coffee break, the session resumed at 16:00 with Patrycja Chuszcz, a doctoral candidate at the University of Łódź in Poland. In her talk, Animal Rights Discourse Regarding So-Called Farmed Animals in Documentary Film: Audience Research, she focused on audience reception of documentaries depicting farmed animals. She explored how viewers’ prior beliefs and assumptions often filter their interpretation of these films, and how deliberate choices in visuals and storytelling—close-ups, editing, music, narration—can trigger specific emotional reactions and shape moral evaluations. Her work bridges Animal Studies with the analysis of activist and documentary cinema, drawing on examples such as the audiovisual campaigns of Otwarte Klatki (Open Cages), the Polish arm of Anima International, where she is actively involved.

It was an intense and thought-provoking afternoon, linking close-up anthropological engagement with the powerful influence of audiovisual media. The session placed the rights and representations of industrially farmed animals at the center, inviting reflection on how the images and stories we consume can either challenge or reinforce our relationship with other animals.

The event was co-sponsored with the UPF-Centre for Animal Ethics.