This month, primatologist, conservationist and author Birute Mary Galdikas turned 68. Best known for her work with orangutans in their natural habitat, Galdikas is one of two surviving members of the so-called “Trimates,” Jane Goodall being the other (Dian Fossey was murdered in Rwanda in 1985 whilst studying gorillas).
As a hat tip to Galdikas and her groundbreaking work with the flame-haired great ape, I present you with three monkey-themed flicks — trimates if you will — all made by Sonomans and each using our closest animal cousins to represent the best and worst of human nature.
3 Monkey Videos for a Trimate
Raymond Daigle’s Replica is a night-in-the-life of copy shop employees in which everything goes wrong — including the arrival of an irate customer in a gorilla suit who complains about the color quality of his copies (ironic since gorillas are color blind).
Monkey’s Nephew is a meditation on evolutionary psychology patched together by Daigle and I one drunken afternoon at now long-defunct FilmArt3 (monkey videos and champagne do not a business model make). Our technique has since evolved.
Monkey Scratches, the most recently created and entertaining offering, was directed by Pascal Faivre, guitarist of Static People, for whom the music video is the first for their new album Rare Creatures. It dropped earlier this month and features a dystopic aesthetic that recalls both 2001: A Space Odyssey and the fashion sense of DEVO (don’t strain your monkey mind trying to reconcile the notions, just watch the video).
