Monkey directs and creates her own films

Capucine, a hot new filmmaker, spends her days on sets adjusting equipment, editing clips, communicating orders and enjoying long lunches. Her hard work has paid off, since she's had at least one film, Oedipe, accepted by the Clermont-Ferrand film festival in France.

Capucine would appear to be like any budding young filmmaker, except for the fact that she's a capuchin monkey. Her works are being touted as the first ever to be filmed and directed by a non-human animal.



You can see Capucine barking orders through her megaphone at the website for the Research Centre on Animal Language in Japan. A short film on that page also shows the petite primate at work. The monkey filmmaking project is the brainchild of Japanese primatologist and film fanatic Hirokazu Shibuya.



Shibuya says Capucine has "worked in the laboratory for 10 years for the training. That's why she could do that. (Oedipe) is her film. She's the director."

The monkey, along with others at Shibuya's facility, originally underwent training to become service animals for disabled individuals. Capucine was given to a quardriplegic man as his helper. He and others began to notice that the monkey was interested in television and cameras, according to a new documentary, Capucine. Her talent helped to inspire the filmmaking project at the Japanese primate research centre.