Project Nim

To make a man out of an ape

In the early seventies, a research project was set up at Columbia University in New York to determine whether apes are capable of any human form of communication. A young chimpanzee called Nim Chimpsky was placed in the family of one of the researchers and grew up there together with the children. He was fed, brought up and cherished in the same way as them. The film shows the sometimes comical, but above all astonishing story of this attempt to make a man out of an ape. Project NIM won the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival and after that became a major hit on the international film festival circuit.  

After the film, there will be a talk with Stijn Bruers on animal rights, etc. Bruers is a Doctor of Science, project manager at Ecolife and an animal rights specialist. His writings include the book Het Dierendebacle (The Animal Debacle) (2010).