Project Nim

"The world will be a different place once you've seen it through his eyes."

2011 1h 33m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 146

Documentary

Synopsis

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From the team behind Man on Wire comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who in the 1970s became the focus of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child. Following Nim's extraordinary journey through human society, and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way, the film is an unflinching and unsentimental biography of an animal we tried to make human. What we learn about his true nature - and indeed our own - is comic, revealing and profoundly unsettling.

“The world will be a different place once you've seen it through his eyes.”

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Cast

Bob Angelini
Lab Tech
Bern Cohen
Dr. William Lemmon
Reagan Leonard
Stephanie LaFarge
Nim Chimpsky
Self (archive footage)
Stephanie LaFarge
Self
Herbert Terrace
Self
Wer LaFarge
Self (archive footage)
Jenny Lee
Self

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: James Marsh
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 15 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by James Marsh, shot by Michael Simmonds. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dickon Hinchliffe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jinx Godfrey shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Bob Angelini and Bern Cohen and Reagan Leonard carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The world will be a different place once you've seen it through his eyes.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1814836 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

James Marsh directs. Michael Simmonds behind the camera. Dickon Hinchliffe scores. Jinx Godfrey cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 15 years ago.
2Directed by James Marsh, shot by Michael Simmonds. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Dickon Hinchliffe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Jinx Godfrey shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Bob Angelini and Bern Cohen and Reagan Leonard carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "The world will be a different place once you've seen it through his eyes.".
7IMDB entry: tt1814836 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Michael Simmonds
Original score: Dickon Hinchliffe
Editing: Jinx Godfrey
Production design: Markus Kirschner
Makeup / hair: Vera Stormsted
Runtime: 93 min · 1h 33m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Project Nim (2011)

Awards

Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Documentaries
Sundance World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

James Marsh

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-06-05
★ 7/10
Now I know that hindsight is a marvellous thing, but quite how anyone could ever have thought that playing God with another animate creature like this would ever be justifiable is beyond me. The scientists here may have been well meaning enough, but I don’t see how the writing on the wall could ever have been different for the chimp whom they called “Nim Chimpsky”. Wrested from his mother at birth, he is “adopted” like some sort of surrogate child by a group who are trying to prove that with a good deal of nurturing, they can teach him how to speak. They offer “Nim” all the trappings of family and become all that he knows and trusts and he reciprocates with behaviours that are loving, attention and mischievous. Then, of course, the science starts to intervene with what limited elements of the natural about this programme and soon he is incarcerated, experimented upon and downright betrayed by those who purported to “love” him. Funding issues and the more aggressive aspirations of science soon negate any potential humanity that might have applied here and predictably court battles loom as “Nim” becomes a sentient football - neglected and alone. It’s harrowing to watch this, if only because the whole scientific concept is arrogant and just plain wrong. With abundant film evidence of this project available to support this eye-opening documentary it potently illustrates, frequently augmented by the contributions of these scientists themselves, more and more the short-sightedness of a project that was only ever going to last as long as the dollars kept coming in. Arguments can be made about the broader term benefits (or not) of vivisection and animal experimentation when they are being used as guinea pigs by life saving pharma, perhaps, but this deliberate attempt to play with, even manipulate, the psychological and emotional behaviour of this young ape as if he were a teddy bear is nauseating to watch. Thought provoking and distasteful as this is, it’s a well structured film that actually takes quite an editorially neutral perspective with it’s presentation. Unlike those rearing “Nim”, we are not fed indoctrination by the film makers, just shown evidence and left to form our own judgements.

Production companies