The bestiary was a popular literary format of the middle ages, an illustrated guidebook and vaguely-informed natural history to various creatures one might encounter: ambiguously rendered elephants and hyenas, chimeric manticores and griffins, or even such as the bonnacon, an unverified bull-like animal said to defend itself by firing burning dung at predators. As scientific verification and observation gradually took over from speculation and fabrication, the books fell by the wayside, but its fascination lives on. And in an age of recombinant genetics, interbreeding grizzly and black bears, mermaid shows, and drone-stalking falcons, perhaps surreal inventions have again begun to brush shoulders with the mundane. This issue, in the spirit of the classical bestiary attempts a broad survey of all that may inhabit our world, real, imagined, or created.
Is it a bird, is it a plane? Shot in the desert of Dubai, Shaheen examines the relationship between bird and human and how humans have used technology to try to recreate wild hunting. Shaheen follows the morning routine of the falcons of the Royal Shaheen group. The falconers Peter and Sarab attempt
Wolves From Above is a meditation on a pack of wolves filmed from the air.
A woman takes inspiration from the social lives of ants in a letter to her own estranged sister, and discovers what it takes to survive as a collective. The short animated film "Ant Sisters" draws from scientific research on the evolution of eusociality to weave a tale about the complex dynamics of
Birdlime: a sticky tar which is used to trap wild birds for export or trade. After narrowly escaping being trapped in the exotic bird-trade industry, an unfortunate fowl still ends up caged and corrupted by unfamiliar stimuli.
A multitude of animals brought together in a rhythmical sequence of photographs. The images blend together similar to the cross breeding of animals. An accumulation of bygone days, captured in photos, in which the animals are replaceable, but the same employees frequently reappear. Years of studies
What if your cat was making you crazy, or a parasite was controlling your behavior and emotions? As told by an expert in the field, a self-identified "crazy cat lady," and the story of the famous cat painter Louis Wain, A Decay of Control is a self-reflexive journey into new research on the parasiti
Archival video and narration, original laboratory photography, and rhythmic insect sound compositions construct an increasingly unsettling portrait of humans' collective relationship with nonhuman lifeforms. Insecta embodies the curiosity and visual delight of the natural sciences, combined with a s
"A Date With An Enfield" is a short and personal animation, exploring nostalgia and place in the digital age. Every single frame of the film has been hand drawn, creating a space where love, myth and Google Maps can intertwine.
In August 2016, seven female filmmakers traveled to Central Florida to film the women of Weeki Wachee Springs, for whom performing mermaid shows is more than a job - it's a craft.
This is a short visual-music work inspired by astounding Ernst Haeckel's drawings. The main plot could seem unexplainable at first glance but yet it is quite simple. Our goal was to express the relationship between the environment and the complexity of morphogenesis of the organic life.
Yussuf Mume Saleh journeys nightly into the outskirts of the walled city of Harar to bond with his beloved hyenas, a ritual he has practiced for over thirty-five years. Shot in Black & White, Hairat is a meditation on this uniquely symbiotic relationship between man and wild beast.
'Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the Night' explores the importance of darkness, and the erosion of it, through the study and preservation of firefly habitats in Japan and the United States. Fireflies are reportedly disappearing, as artificial night lights disrupt their 'languages of light'. 'Brillian
Humanity and animality are enigmatically confronted and entwined. Combining rich high-contrast 16mm images with crisp digital color scenes, BLUA composes an uncanny entry into the relationship between human and animal existence. Unfolding like a tapestry, its montage complicates the relationship bet
Beware what you throw in the sea! A monstrous creature of our own making stalks a seaside town and returns our plastic litter to use in the most devastating way.
After the death of her partner and the rest of the migrating butterflies, the last monarch survivor has one last message to tell humanity.
A journey with two scientists at Kyoto University : from the botanical gardens to flies with spotted wings to green fluorescent larvae. Shigeyuki and his postdoctoral student Kenji venture through the Botanical Gardens at Kyoto University to collect novel Drosophila strains. They bring them back to
In this environmental fairytale, where frogs turn to handsome princes, a "Pizzly Bear" is an actually cross between a Grizzly Bear father and a Polar Bear mother. It addresses how little regard we have for animals other than ourselves.
A playful exploration of the group dynamics within a classroom interior, in which a small girl interrupts the stifling tedium with a subtly subversive action.
In the summer of 1992, Dujung, an elementary student, goes to a farm in the suburbs with his parents. While his parents believe the expensive and rare specialty from the farm will strengthen their son's body, Dujung suffers side effects.
A TV presenter tries to engage with crows in the local park. After her first rendezvous with a crow she finds herself unexpectedly emotional. Nevertheless she continuous to meet crows in the park. It seems impossible to establish a relationship between her as a human and the crows.