Review: ‘Animus Animalis (a story about People, Animals and Things)’
Animus Animalis (a story about People, Animals and Things) (Lithuania, 69 minutes) Dir: Aiste Žegulyte Programme: Animal Magnetism (North American Premiere) In a series of vignettes, humans interact with animals. Hunters kill and butcher a deer, taxidermists preserve carcasses while museum patrons and staff interact with stuffed animals in exhibitions. But Animus Animalis (a story about People, Animals, and Things) is less concerned with the animals in its title, and more concerned with how humans interact with them when they die. Aiste Žegulyte’s latest film is a fascinating subversion of an anthropocentric gaze. It privileges human experiences despite a focus on animals,