Project Nim
United Kingdom
2011
93 Min
Color, Black and White
English
Synopsis
From the Oscar-winning team behind Man on Wire comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who, in the 1970s, became the focus of a landmark experiment that aimed to prove an ape—if raised and nurtured like a human child—could learn to communicate using sign language. If successful, the consequences of the project would be profound, breaking down the barrier between man and his closest animal relative and fundamentally redefining what it is to be human. Combining the testimony of all the key participants, newly discovered archival film, and dramatic imagery, Project Nim tells the picturesque story of one chimpanzee’s extraordinary journey through human society and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way.
Filmmaker James Marsh returns to the Sundance Film Festival with an unflinching, unsentimental biography of an animal we tried to make human. What we learn about Nim’s true nature—and indeed our own—is comic, revealing, and profoundly unsettling. –Sundance Film Festival
Director
James Marsh
James Marsh is a director of both documentary and narrative feature films. His most recent dramatic film, Red Riding: 1980, was released by the IFC in 2010. Marsh’s documentary Man on Wire premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Jury Prize and the Audience Award, and garnered the Academy Award for best documentary the following year. Marsh’s earlier work includes the feature film The King (Un Certain Regard, 2005 Cannes International Film Festival) and the documentary hybrid Wisconsin Death Trip. –Sundance
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Displaying 4 of 18 wall posts.
Kid Sisyphus
23Jan13
I find the fact that Nim was able to exact a modicum of vengeance upon his handlers by dragging one unwillingly around by her ankles in his spartan enclosure gratifying.
prestidigitator
17Sep12
they wanted to make nim human and they only made themselves inhuman. (this movie broke my heart.)
（☯）
3Sep12
Project Nim demonstrates that humans have the capacity to be as primitive and cruel as apes, and that chimps have the potential to communicate, empathize, and experience emotion like humans. I was impressed by the extent to which Nim was able to bond emotionally with the people he worked with, and the powerful guilt and sadness that some of them still had over leaving him behind.Bob Ingersoll's compassion was amazing
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Awards 2011. It's "The Artist" for the Boston Society of Film Critics
By David Hudson on December 11, 2011
Strong showing for Margaret, Hugo and Moneyball.
Sundance 2011. James Marsh's "Project Nim"
By David Hudson on January 21, 2011
"It says something that out of four feature-length films opening the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, the hottest ticket in town wasn't the celebrity
DVD Review: PROJECT NIM
By Twitchfilm.com on February 3, 2012
Project Nim, the latest film from Man on Wire director, James Marsh (no relation), was the benefactor of a fortuitous set of release circumstances. Marsh’s film deals with a cultural experiment performed
Watch the First Six Minutes of PROJECT NIM. (Hint: You Should!)
By Twitchfilm.com on December 17, 2011
Not only one of the best documentaries of the year, James Marsh’s (Man On Wire) Project Nim is one of the best films of the year. Period. Full Stop. Need some convincing that a 30 odd years post-mortem
PROJECT NIM Review
By Twitchfilm.com on December 16, 2011
[With Project Nim entering into limited US theatrical release tomorrow we revisit Kurt Halfyard’s previous review.]Meet Nim Chimpsky, the irrepressibly cute chimpanzee snatched from his mother at birth
EIFF 2011 - PROJECT NIM Review
By Twitchfilm.com on December 16, 2011
[This is a reprint of a review published at BlogCritics.org]Documentary fans will undoubtedly be highly anticipating the new film from director James Marsh, who brought us the fascinating Oscar-winning
Dallas IFF: PROJECT NIM Review
By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
As with Man on Wire, his previous documentary, director James Marsh brings recent history to vivid life in Project Nim, which unfolds as the saga of a lone chimp against implacable human foes.Naturally
Trailer: PROJECT NIM
By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
From the director Man on Wire and the middle chapter of the Red Riding Trilogy, James Marsh’s latest film, Project Nim was the best documentary that I saw at this years HotDocs film festival. Because
HotDocs 2011: PROJECT NIM Review
By Twitchfilm.com on May 13, 2011
[Hotdocs may have wrapped up last week, but there are a few more reviews and interviews in the queue, and James Marsh’s Project Nim may have been the best film at this years festival.]Meet Nim Chimpsky
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Project Nim (2011)--A Smart Look at What Makes Us Human or Animal Rights Propaganda?
23 posts by 7 people
over 1 year ago