Project Detail

Becoming Animal

Synopsis

Examining the relationship between ourselves and the other species we share the planet with has opened up new ways to understand our place in the world. This film offers an attempt to give some of these new ways of thinking a cinematic form.
An essay based on a field trip to Wyoming's wild nature, in the company of the bio-philosopher David Abram and the two visionary filmmakers Emma Davie and Peter Mettler. And with an abundance of bison, moose and birds. Both form and thought are unchained in a film that ends up moving (far) beyond man's self-centred view of nature, and into a state of almost psychedelic receptiveness. As Mettler asks in a diaristic note: Are language and modern technology a barrier or an open door between ourselves and the world that surrounds us? And what about the medium of film itself?
Official Selection CPH:DOX 2018 - World premiere

Details

Year
2018
Type of project
Features
Running time
78 mins
Director
Emma Davie, Peter Mettler
Producer
Cornelia Seitler, Rebecca Day, Sonja Henrici, Brigitte Hofer
Editor
Peter Mettler
Director of Photography
Peter Mettler

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Switzerland, UK co-production

maximage Filmproduktion (CH), SDI Productions (UK)

SDI Productions

SDI (Scottish Documentary Institute)
Sonja Henrici
ECA
74 Lauriston Place
Edinburgh
EH3 9DF

Sales Company

Scottish Documentary Institute

Eve Korzec
ECA
74 Lauriston Place
Edinburgh
EH3 9DF

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