Directed by Denis Côté • Documentary • 2012 • 72 minutes
Fascinating and beguiling, BESTIAIRE is Denis Côté's mesmerizing meditation on the relationship between man and beast. This strikingly beautiful film about looking-starts with a group of art students attempting to sketch an animal-that blurs the line between observer and observed. There may be no traditional narrative, yet there is breathtaking dramatic tension in every exquisitely framed shot: the sight of a lion attacking the doors of its cage or the scurrying striped legs of zebras in a holding pen. Contemplative and enthralling, BESTIAIRE is cinema at its purest.
"Using the film form to challenge the very notion of representation, Bestiaire is an elegant, bewitching meditation on the nature of sentience and the boundaries between nature and civilization." -Sundance Film Festival
"Haunting mix of curiosity and compassion." -Variety
Up Next in Essay Films
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The Nine Muses
Directed by John Akomfrah • Documentary • 2010 • 94 minutes
Structured as an allegorical fable set between 1949 and 1970, THE NINE MUSES is comprised of nine overlapping musical chapters that mix archival material with original scenes. Together, they form a stylized, idiosyncratic retelling of t...
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In Our Nature
Directed by Sara Leavitt • Documentary • 2019 • 3 minutes
Moving from the country to the city, IN OUR NATURE is about the disconnection from the environment one experiences while in urban areas. Inspired by D.A. Pennebaker's DAYBREAK EXPRESS, the film takes the viewer on a road trip that encompa...
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Time Indefinite (Ross McElwee)
Directed by Ross McElwee • Documentary • 1993 • 117 minutes
McElwee, Charleen Swansea, and several other memorable characters you met in Sherman's March invite you to pick up their story in Time Indefinite, McElwee's hilariously profound sequel to his much-beloved, critically acclaimed hit.
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