It is Night in America was filmed at Brasilia Zoo, habitat to hundreds of rescued species fleeing agribusiness, urbanization and the pollution of the Brazilian cerrado. As a nocturnal feast filmed on expired 16mm, this immersive work casts an animalistic spell with shades of eco-horror, wildlife fictions, and documentary, subverting the limits of cinematic genres. Giant anteaters and otters, maned wolves, owls, and capybaras meet with biologists, veterinarians, caretakers and the environmental police in a somber plot where the challenges of preserving life weave a web of intersecting perspectives. In the end, who are the real captives? (É Noite na América, Ana Vaz, 2022, French and Portuguese with subtitles, 16mm to DCP, 66 minutes)

Image caption: Still from Ana Vaz’s It Is Night in America (2022) courtesy of Lightcone, Paris