A documentary film offering a fun-filled and poignant journey that is sure to put a smile on your face.
Guinea Pig Diaries shows us firsthand the special bond between humans and their pet guinea pigs, revealing stories much more compelling than we could have ever imagined. Our relationship with this small furry animal has been part of the “domesticated pet” culture for centuries. But it is through this unique film that audiences get a rare and unfiltered look into the lives of this often-misunderstood rodent and the interesting people who adore them, breed them, show them, and rescue them. Through each of these personal stories we reveal that it is in fact the guinea pigs who often liberate and heal the souls of the very people who believed their purpose was to care for these diminutive creatures.
Through the art of verité filmmaking, our cameras follow undiscovered stories throughout Europe and North America. Guinea Pig Diaries offers audiences a new appreciation of this sturdy and vocal creature as well as the people who have dedicated their lives to this animal. From breeders like Petra Gemeinhardt, who hosts the largest Guinea Pig show in Bavaria to adoption organizations like Los Angeles Guinea Pig Rescue, to Canadian YouTube influencers like SkinnyPigs1 and Ian Cutmore who operates a Guinea Pig hotel in the United Kingdom, this film offers both entertaining and heartwarming stories with commentary by one of the world’s leading animal behaviorists, Dr. Anne McBride. McBride has long studied the human-guinea pig connection and gives us fascinating insight into our understanding of what life is actually like from this little animal’s point of view. Her keen wit matched with her examination of the intriguing guinea pig is both important and enlightening.
It would be remiss not to mention that this rodent species, whose Latin name is Cavia porcellus (Little Pig), has been a dietary staple in the Andes and has become ingrained in our modern-day lexicon when we refer to people as “guinea pigs” during a scientific test to discover the effect of experimental drugs on humans. This film stretches significantly beyond the stereotype of guinea pigs to dive deeper into why such an underrated creature consistently wins the hearts of both young and old.
Popular culture has used the playful antics of guinea pigs in various art forms for amusement, and paintings dating back to the 1500s confirm their role as human companions. Most recently, when Emmy award-winning writer and producer Phoebe Waller-Bridge created the hit series Fleabag she confides that the casting for the show’s guinea-pig mascot, Hilary, produced hundreds of headshots of guinea pigs. In the end, she confesses that “I just wanted to get close to a guinea pig. So I thought, write a f—king show. There’s nothing more innocent and vulnerable than a f—ing guinea pig… and I fell so in love.”
Expletives aside, Guinea Pig Diaries takes you below the surface of what makes this small animal so appealing and at the same time offers insights into how to best respect and treat guinea pigs. As Ann McBride instructs: it’s simple, just lower your body down and begin to visualize life from a guinea pig’s perspective. You might be surprised at what you see.