Private Project

Animal Cinema

Animal Cinema is a film composed of fragments of videos of animals operating cameras. All cameras were stolen by animals who acted autonomously. These video materials, downloaded from YouTube between 2012 and 2017, have been reorganized in Animal Cinema as a constant unfolding of non-human modes of being.

  • Emilio Vavarella
    Director
  • Emilio Vavarella
    Producer
  • Cardisoma guanhumi (land crab)
    Key Cast
  • Octopus vulgaris (common octopus)
    Key Cast
  • Amphioctopus marginatus (veined octopus)
    Key Cast
  • Canis lupus familiaris (German shorthaired pointer)
    Key Cast
  • Ursus arctos ssp. (grizzly bear)
    Key Cast
  • Panthera leo senegalensis (West African lion)
    Key Cast
  • Panthera leo (African lion)
    Key Cast
  • Sciurus carolinensis (eastern gray squirrel)
    Key Cast
  • Cebus capucinus (white-headed capuchin monkey)
    Key Cast
  • Simia inuus (macaque)
    Key Cast
  • Haliastur sphenurus (whistling kite)
    Key Cast
  • GoPro HERO2
    Hardware
  • GoPro HERO3
    Hardware
  • GoPro HERO3+ Black Edition
    Hardware
  • GoPro HERO4
    Hardware
  • Motion sensor camera
    Hardware
  • AJsoCAl
    Youtube uploader
  • Roel Lauwers
    Youtube uploader
  • Chris Cole
    Youtube uploader
  • Ben Nestor
    Youtube uploader
  • Brad Joseph
    Youtube uploader
  • Earth Touch
    Youtube uploader
  • Karen Moran
    Youtube uploader
  • Viva Frei
    Youtube uploader
  • Michal Kankowski
    Youtube uploader
  • ABC News (Australia)
    Youtube uploader
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Experimental documentary short, art
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 12 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 1, 2017
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia, Botswana, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Egypt, Germany, Honduras, Malaysia
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • 35th TFF Torino Film Festival
    Torino
    Italy
    November 24, 2017
    European Premiere
    Official Selection
  • 26th St Louis International Film Festival
    St. Louis
    United States
    November 4, 2017
    North American Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Harvard Film Archive
    Cambridge
    United States
    May 1, 2017
    Private preview
    Official Selection
  • GALLLERIAPIÙ, RE: CAPTURE: Room(s) for Imperfection,
    Bologna
    Italy
    November 18, 2017
  • Oxford Film Festival
    Oxford, Missisippi
    United States
    February 1, 2018
    Official Selection
  • 31st Images Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    April 12, 2018
    Canadian Premiere
  • 27th Florida Film Festival

    United States
    East Coast Premiere
    Official Selection
  • 45th Athens International Film and Video Festival
    Athens, Ohio
    United States
    Official Selection
  • 17th Festival Internacional de la Imagen
    Manizales
    Colombia
    South American Premiere
  • Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, No Middle, No End
    Gdańsk
    Poland
    February 22, 2018
  • Artissima 2018
    Turin
    Italy
    November 2, 2018
  • 48th USA Film Festival
    Dallas, Texas
    Official Selection
  • Cinema Perpetuum Mobile International Short Film Festival
    Minsk
    Belarus
  • Revelation – Perth International Film Festival
    Perth
    Australia
    Australian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Something Else, OFF Biennale Cairo
    Cairo
    Egypt
    November 5, 2017
  • 17th International Kansk Video Festival
    Kansk
    Russian Federation
    Third Prize
  • MOSS INDEX 1
    San Francisco
    United States
  • 19th Lucania Film Festival
    Matera
    Italy
    August 1, 2018
    Official Selection
  • Aesthetica Short Film Festival
    York
    United Kingdom
    Official Selection
  • Experimental Forum Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Honorary Mention Award
  • Sydney Underground Film Festival
    Sydney
    Australia
    September 13, 2018
    Official Selection
  • Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
    Fort Lauderdale
    United States
    November 2, 2018
  • 21st Antimatter [Media Art]
    Victoria
    Canada
    October 11, 2018
    Western Canadian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • South Film and Arts Academy Festival
    Rancagua
    Chile
  • London Short Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
  • 5th International Motion Festival
    Nicosia
    Cyprus
  • Frontdoc - International Documentary Film Festival
    Aosta
    Italy
  • Richmond International Film and Music Festival
    Richmond, Virginia
    United States
  • San Antonio Independent Film Festival
    Ibarra
    Ecuador
    Winner Best Experimental Short FIlm
  • Il Varco - III Festival Internazionale del Cortometraggio
    Pescara
    Italy
    Honorary Mention for Experimental Cinema
  • Kyiv Biennial 2019
    Kyiv
    Ukraine
    October 11, 2019
  • 29th Message to Man – IFF
    Saint Petersburg
    Russian Federation
    September 14, 2019
  • Loop Festival
    Barcelona
    Spain
    November 12, 2019
  • Oaxaca Filmfest
    Oaxaca
    Mexico
    October 4, 2019
  • Gamma Festival – Gamma_ONSCREEN
    Saint Petersburg
    Russian Federation
  • Festival Passage
    Côte de Nacre
    France
  • Rokolectiv Festival
    Bucharest
    Romania
  • Domus Magna / Palazzo della Misericordia
    Bergamo
    Italy
  • Museu de Ciències Naturals of Barcelona – Loop Festival
    Barcelona
    Spain
Distribution Information
  • GALLLERIAPIÙ
    Country: Worldwide
Director Biography - Emilio Vavarella

Emilio Vavarella is an Italian artist working at the intersection of interdisciplinary art practice, theoretical research and media experimentation.

Esteemed venues that have exhibited Vavarella’s work include: MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo; KANAL - Centre Pompidou; MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna; Museum of Contemporary Art - Zagreb; Museu de Ciències Naturals of Barcelona, The Photographer's Gallery of London, Museo de Arte de Caldas; Villa Manin; Museo Nacional Bellas Artes in Santiago; Museu das Comunicações of Lisbon, National Art Center of Tokyo; Eyebeam Art and Technology Center and Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina. His artworks have been exhibited at film festivals such as Toronto's Images Festival; Torino Film Festival, and the St. Louis International Film Festival, and at many international media art festivals, among which: EMAF - European Media Art Festival; JMAF - Japan Media Arts Festival; Stuttgarter Filmwinter – Festival for Expanded Media; BVAM - Media Art Biennale; and NYEAF - New York Electronic Arts Festival.

Vavarella has been awarded numerous art prizes and grants, among which the Exibart Art Prize (2o2o); Italian Council award (2019); Premio Fattori Contemporaneo (2019); SIAE - Nuove Opere (2019); the NYSCA Electronic Media and Film Finishing Funds grant (2016); the Francesco Fabbri Prize for Contemporary Art (2015) and the Movin’Up Grant (2015). He has been invited to present his work at: Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative; Istituto Italiano di Cultura - New York; ISEA - International Symposium on Electronic Arts; Goldsmiths University of London; the University of East London; the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and SIGGRAPH. His academic writings have been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Leonardo - The Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology (MIT Press), Digital Creativity (Routledge), and CITAR Journal – Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts. His writings have also appeared in Behind the Smart World: Saving, Deleting and Resurfacing Data produced by the AMRO Research Lab and in exhibition catalogues like Low Form: Imaginaries and Visions in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (MAXXI and CURA Books); That's IT! (MAMbo), and Robot Love (Niet Normaal Foundation). His work is regularly discussed in art magazines, academic books and peer-reviewed journals, and has been covered by all major global media outlets. His most recent artist book, published by Mousse, is entitled rs548049170_1_69869_TT.

Vavarella is currently working toward a PhD in Film and Visual Studies and Critical Media Practice at Harvard University. He holds an M.A. cum laude in Visual Arts from Iuav University of Venice, with study abroad fellowships at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Tel Aviv and Bilgi University of Istanbul and received a B.A. cum laude in Visual, Cultural, and Media Studies from the University of Bologna.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Animal Cinema is my first film. It stems from my art practice and it expands my investigation of non-anthropocentric audio-visual experiences. I believe that a new regime of moving images is emerging in the tension between ideas of sensorial contact, encounter, and closeness, and the presence of the unthought, the unsummonable, the inexplicable and the undecidable.