Motherboard (VICE’s science and tech channel) and 20th Century Fox have collaborated in advance of the upcoming release of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for something they are calling Island of Apes and along with the trailer (see the very bottom of this post) they have released three scripted short films, produced based on the film’s subject matter.
First, the shorts…
Spread of Simian Flu: Before the Dawn of the Apes (Year 1)
DIRECTOR: Isaiah Seret
Amidst a widespread viral outbreak known as the ‘Simian Flu’, a mother is quarantined after testing positive for the virus, leaving her husband and daughter to fend for themselves.
Struggling to Survive: Before the Dawn of the Apes (Year 5)
DIRECTOR: Daniel Thron
Five years after the Simian Flu all but wiped out humanity, an orphaned teenage girl survives by bartering things she has stolen from dead people’s homes.
Story of the Gun: Before the Dawn of the Apes (Year 10)
DIRECTOR: “thirty-two”
Follow the journey of a shotgun through the hands of several ill-fated owners as the ‘Simian Flu’ ravages the world around them.
Next we come to the trailer for Island of Apes, which will go live tomorrow, but for now here’s the synopsis:
The documentary heads to an isolated area inhabited solely by former lab-tested chimpanzees who have survived both disease and two civil wars, and today instill fear in their neighboring communities.
We head to the beaches of the island to capture the chimps in their unique habitat, and discover that human interaction is far from second nature.
For the first time in history, we sit down with Betsy Brotman, one-half of the testing facility’s founding couple, to learn of her shockingly dark and heroic past, and why her views on animal testing have dramatically changed.
Here’s the trailer and the full film will go live tomorrow on Vice.
