Animals In History

Jumbo, the largest known elephant.

This is a bit of an unusual project, in the sense that it has never been done before. It took a young documentary film director, Stevan Zivkov Andricin, with a huge interest in the topic, to make a longer film and some shorter videos, which are now on Vimeo.

Mr. Andricin was lucky in one sense. Although he was born in Yugoslavia, he and his family managed to leave the country and move to Hungary before the Serbian conflict began. After Slobodan Milosovic, the Serbian leader, fell, Stevan went back to Serbia and established a motion graphics and web design studio, Cityfocus.



Mr. Andricin utilizes the equipment in this studio to make documentary films. Eventually, the idea of making this documentary about animals' roles in history came to him as a result of filming other documentaries. As Stevan said, "During work on previous documentary movies, I realized the fascinating role of animals in the history of humankind. Man and animal were participants in the history of humankind, but history has forgotten about animals."

Stevan bases his interest in animals on his philosophy of animals as beings, "Every animal is equal to the human animal. Animals are only different species. Every animal is a person with very deep and gentle emotions."  He was also aware that very little had been done to document the role of animals in human history and he wanted to be able to teach others about that history, using his documentary as one of the tools. He said, "Animals don't have the power of speech and their lives and fates aren't taught in schools. In our film, Animals: A Parallel History, we make a modest attempt to show people the history humans and animals share."

In the film, Mr. Andricin also explores how animals have been exploited for food, experiments, and treated with brutality. He believes in teaching children about this history, because children have a right to know and they also realize when the adults in their lives aren't being honest with them. The film was completed in 2013. The ongoing step is to utilize the film and the shorter videos in educational venues and spread the information around the world.

John Moisant, a US aviator,  flew with his beloved cat on at least 14 flights.

In the end, Stevan hopes that people around the world will develop a deeper appreciation of the animals that share this planet with us and help strengthen the bond between people and animals. As he says about his own hopes, "This knowledge will encourage empathy and responsibility for the creatures around them and the world we all share. This revolutionary film is a key to better stewardship of the earth's environment and living beings."

Fictional animals populate fables.

Thanks to this article from The Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/article/film-director-stevan-zivkov-andricin-produces-cutting-edge-animal-history-film; and this article from Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/stevan-zivkov-andricin-animals-parallel-history/.

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