We need to invent a new relationship with animals. More than any other medium cinema has the power to challenge our understanding of the so-called divide between animals and humans. Filmexplorer has picked up five films that reflect upon the relationship between humans and other species among different contexts and geographies. Becoming Animal offers both a philosophical and sensual reflection on the boundaries of perception – the film is an actual attempt to get rid of anthropocentrism and to embrace an animalistic way of perception. While Des moutons et des hommes immerses us in the training of sheep to fight in a popular district of Alger, Neon Bull portrays the life of a community of people living among bulls and horses in Northeast Brazil. The exploitation of animals in the early stage of North American capitalism is at the core of First Cow, where the tenderness of the dialogues between the main protagonist and the eponymous cow radically contrasts with the hostility of their environment. No less striking is the first encounter between a shipwrecked mariner and a huge red turtle on a lost island in La tortue rouge.
