It Is Night in America

We launch the new issue of Senses of Cinema with a special screening of Ana Vaz's post-colonial eco-critique of modern day Brasilia.

Set in Brasilia – its very construction causing violent displacements of wild species of animal – Ana Vaz's avant-garde documentary opens with a disorientating overlay of image and sound. The film's haunting score envelops stories of rescued species, from giant anteaters, otters, maned wolves, owls and capybaras told through conversations with biologists, veterinarians, zookeepers and the environmental police who question the ideology of conservation, in light of a fragility that dystopian ideals of progress contributed to creating.

This special screening will be preceded with an introduction by Dr Cristóbal Escobar, guest editor for the dossier on ‘The Nonhuman’ in Senses of Cinema Issue 109, followed by a post-screening on-screen interview with director Ana Vaz.