Collective Monologue

Jessica Sarah Rinland / Argentina & United Kingdom / 2024 / 104 min

Who knows what an anteater is doing in the middle of the night? If anyone does, the zookeeper Maca is probably the person to ask – and if not, you can find answers in Jessica Sarah Rinland’s quietly beautiful new film from various zoos in Argentina, where good people like Maca care for the animals and perhaps even develop a kind of friendship with them.

Through Rinland’s 16mm footage and glimpses from surveillance cameras, we get a rare insight into life in captivity in zoos and animal shelters. But we also get an authentic insight into a 
unique relationship across species, languages and the imagined boundaries of life forms. There are tender moments between the animals and their caretakers, while also touching on social and historical issues such as labor, exploitation and the influence of colonialism on our view of nature.

With ‘Collective Monologue’, Rinland – who was also the photographer behind Lois Patiño’s award-winning ‘Samsara’ – has pulled off a sensory feat that invites us to consider how we not only look at animals, but also share the world with them.