Director: James Marsh | UK 2011 | 93 min

If you liked John Marsh's Oscar-winning "Man on Wire", you will be guaranteed to love the English master documentarist's latest film "Project Nim" - an exciting and informative insight into a radical sociological project from the 1970s, which focuses on an ape but which tells thousands of truths about the human being. How much can a chimpanzee learn? And does it resemble a human being so much, that it can navigate through complex social contexts? Professor Herb Terrace from Columbia University embarked on the experiment in 1973 together with a dedicated team of researchers. En route, they made some astonishing empirical observations, but also encountered some massive problems. "You can"t give an animal that is able to kill you a human upbringing", one of the scientists says at one point in the film. For even if Nim apparently exhibits empathy and even likes to relax smoking a joint from time to time, there is still a set of razor-sharp teeth sitting in his jaws. James Marsh will be present himself to introduce the screening on 30 October in Cinemateket!
Project Nim (UK, 2011, 93 min.)
Director: James Marsh. Producer: Simon Chinn. Production: Red Box Films, Passion Pictures, BBC Films.