Apes live for ripe fruit, and our culture is absolutely ripe for this subject. We, Apes is an independent documentary that addresses the question we're all thinking about: What makes us human, if computers can replace us? What can’t they replace? While we are all facing the uncertain future, this documentary is an exploration of our ancestry, through our very closest living relatives.
At first, viewers may abstract the images of the apes, and simply hear the word “apes” in their mind. But as they spend more time with these beings, the inescapable parallels will confront and penetrate. With so many similarities, we are led to the question, what about us is actually human?
Is it our thumbs? Our skin? Our hair? Our curiosities? Our thoughts? Is it that awareness situated somewhere behind the eyes and between the ears? If these beings share so much of us, are we really as different to the animal kingdom as we thought?
We, Apes seeks to face the canon of western philosophy that estranged animals as unthinking, unfeeling machines, and present them as deeply emotional, highly sophisticated beings. If we are to realise that we are part of this natural world, the closest bridge we can find, are the primates.
We, Apes is currently in production and seeking further financing.
ALESI
Alesi is a world adventurer who does not take no for an answer. Effective, precise, organised, and at home in uncomfortable circumstances, Alesi is built for a project of this nature. From an early age, Alesi has been fascinated with primates. She even bears the scars of multiple baboon canines from her time in South Africa. Alesi has been in communication with the whole spectrum of people in the world of primatology and ethology, starting all the way at the top with Jane Goodall, and the late Frans de Waal, to the field assistants and trackers who make the research possible.
In the past year, Alesi has traveled to Gambia to spend time at the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project, to Rwanda to build connections with the gorilla researching community and to Uganda where she conducted a preliminary scout trip into Kalinzu National Forest, where she first encountered chimpanzees up close in the wild. She also visited and met the Ngamba Island team.
Alesi has the passion for the subject and the character for the job.
ROBERT
Rob is a born filmmaker. From a very young age, every person in his world has known about his calling. There are few people so singular and so clear about their place in this world as Rob. In his early 20s, however, he delved into photography and published a book of intimate and personal portraits of dogs and cats, entitled Animal Soul. The book received critical acclaim, and thousands of copies have been sold worldwide.
Rob is in many ways a budding auteur of our generation. A natural philosopher, endlessly creative, and bristling with passion. It’s hard not to get swept up in his enthusiasm once he gets going. He insists to cut everything he films, he directs relentlessly, and his standard of quality is always challenging anyone who works with us. There are few people more suited to this line of work than Rob is.
His passion for apes began in 2019. He sees them as a missing link toward our interpretation of ourselves, and can tell stories late into the night about what he’s learned about these incredible beings.
