Animal Kingdom

Dean Kavanagh

2017

Ireland

Cillian Roche (Actor), Anja Mahler (Actor), John Curran (Actor)

Rouzbeh Rashidi (Actor), Jann Clavadetscher (Actor), Maximilian Le Cain (Actor)

Feature

Experimental, Horror, Parody

6K / 4K REDCODE RAW, R3D

70mm workprint

English

02:01:00:00

Earth. Wind. Fire. Water. Sacrifice. In Animal Kingdom a ritual carves a dimension that melds character, object, landscape, and the very tactile makeup of the film itself into one mutating symphonic mass of spell casting, storytelling, living, and dying. An explosive account of cinema as witchcraft.

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Exploring the notion that all one needs to make a film is ‘a girl and a gun’, Animal Kingdom proposes an entirely fragmented narrative in which all characters are led like lambs to the slaughter as the film turns the gun on itself. Dean Kavanagh’s unique and tactile head-trip draws parallels “between the hidden forces of animality everywhere and the cinema medium as a storehouse of virtual powers” (Fergus Daly). Shot across an array of cameras and formats, Animal Kingdom is a sensory experience that depicts characters voyaging into the mechanistic recesses of the very film that projects them. 

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