ANIMAL (September 2021)

“Each living species is a masterpiece of singular beauty. We treat animals however with incredible off-hand contempt,” wrote Claude-Levi Strauss. We cannot assess how animals suffer without somehow suffering ourselves, because animals live hellish lives, the responsibility for which is ours. Our cruelty towards animals is indicative of all the evil of which we are capable. Defending animal rights is a difficult cause, a bitter relentless struggle, exposing its proponents to great violence. But it is a generous cause driven by the hope of a better, fairer, and less violent world.

For our violence towards animals reflects the violence that humans perpetrate against themselves. In the movie Animal, Cyril Dion invites Bella and Vipulan, two teenage climate activists to explore the world in order to better understand the roots of animal cruelty, a degree of cruelty never before witnessed in the history of humanity or of life on earth for that matter. In the course of their travels, they encounter the people who, in situ, have found concrete solutions to preserve biodiversity, prepare ecosystems, and promote forms of more peaceful cohabitation with life on the planet. In other words, different ways of living together. The book coincides with the release of the movie, Animal, and looks more closely at Bella and Vipulan’s journey into the heart of the sixth great mass extinction.

On this voyage of initiation, Bella and Vipulan have to overcome their fears and preconceived ideas. In the course of their world tour, they harvest a whole host of solutions to fight against pollution, over-exploitation and the destruction of natural habitats. What is the real place of humans on the planet, this small blue bead lost in the infinity of space? With all the rage and hope of sixteen-year-olds, Bella and Vipulan set out in search of different ways to be human on Earth.

ANIMAL: ACTIVIST NOTEBOOK (October 2021)

In his latest feature film, Animal, Cyril Dion searches across the globe for solutions to the alarming erosion of biodiversity. On his tour of the world, he has brought along two teenagers, Bella and Vipulan, both of whom are already seasoned climate and conservation campaigners. The three meet a series of activists trying to bring about change, who are all in their own way proposing solutions that require a fundamental revolution in Western modes of thought. The release of Animal will be accompanied by a book written by Cyril Dion in which he explores the themes of the film further and in which Bella and Vipulan have the opportunity to express their feelings directly, describing how this film-making adventure has changed their lives and their outlook on the natural world and wildlife. Above all, their experiences have disabused them of certain preconceived ideas which they are now determined to dispel in others, including through this book.