Why Not Watch?
Don’t worry world! We always support watching documentaries legally and many of the films we recommend on Influence Film Club are available where you live too. We suggest using your preferred method for watching a film – such as searching iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, VOD platforms (video-on-demand), or renting/buying a DVD.
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PROJECT NIM tells the story of a chimpanzee who was the focus of a 1970’s landmark experiment to prove that an ape could learn to communicate through sign language if raised and nurtured like a human child.
Director: James Marsh
Share this film. Give others a chance to learn from Nim’s story.
Support the filmmaker, James Marsh, as he continues to bring other stories to life.
Protest against animal experimentation. For example, PETA and Dumb Friends League run ongoing campaigns. You can connect with local organizations in your city or country. Purchasing cruelty-free items is another way to protest against animal injustices.
Learn more about chimpanzees and other animals. The more you understand them, the more you will know how to help them.
“The name Nim Chimpsky was a twist on Noam Chomsky, the MIT linguist who theorized that language as we know it is unique to humans. [Herbert] Terrace wanted to disprove Chomsky’s theory and show that a chimpanzee could develop real language.”
Listen to the story on NPR as Margaret Adler discusses the PROJECT NIM.
Although no other animal has exhibited the desire or ability to cooperate and transform the planet to the extent that humans have, it’s clear that many species deserve more credit than we have given them in the past.
Check out this list of the 10 Most Intelligent Animals. You might be surprised by the results.
The Center for Great Apes’ mission is to provide a permanent sanctuary for orangutans and chimpanzees who have been retired from the entertainment industry, from research, or who are no longer wanted as pets.
Watch the interview on Youtube.
“Men have forgotten this truth,” said the fox. “But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
WE OUGHT TO READ
Films that inspired or were inspired by the literary world.
“Good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others’ motives, imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments, researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chipping away at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities came from.”
Read the full article here.
Humans have long developed intimate relationships with animals. Watch the touching story of Christian the Lion reunite with his caregivers after many years.
"BREATHTAKING.... Succeeds in telling a layered story about the ways we love."
Vanity Fair
"POWERFUL. Project Nim will affect you in the way good movies ought to."
The Boston Globe
"A GRIPPING DOCUMENTARY."
The Guardian
