Allison Argo is an award-winning filmmaker and the writer, director, producer and narrator of Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History. Her previous film for NATURE, The Urban Elephant, won Emmy awards for Outstanding Cultural or Informational Program and Outstanding Achievement in Directing. Below, Argo shares some thoughts on the making of Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History.

Q: How did the idea for Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History come about?

A: The idea grew out of a prior film that I had made for NATURE called Wisdom of the Wild. One of the segments in that film dealt with chimpanzees being retired from a laboratory, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. Both Fred Kaufman [NATURE's executive producer] and I were very moved by the story of chimps that have been used in research and entertainment, and we realized it was a really rich and complex story. The contrast between chimpanzees in the wild using medicinal plants to self-medicate, as we showed in Wisdom of the Wild, and then living in a very unnatural situation was very dramatic.

I should say too that especially now, after having immersed myself for over two years in the world of captive chimpanzees, it is so moving to think back on my experiences of seeing chimps in the wild in Tanzania. It gave me such a sense of well-being to witness them living in family groups. I’ll never forget watching them on numerous afternoons, just lying in a little patch of sun on the forest floor, having a big group of adults and youngsters groom and watching them forage. They seemed very much at peace. And that was, again, such a contrast to what we’ve done with chimpanzees in our society

Q: You are the writer, director, producer and narrator of the film. Why did you choose to assume all those roles?

A: It’s a very personal choice that I participate in so many facets of the film. It’s a much richer, deeper experience for me. It gives me huge gratification. I love writing the script and I love reading the words that I’ve written. At the end of making the film, it’s very cathartic. I usually have a big cry. And yes, there are huge challenges also. It’s very lonely in some ways. But also one of the things that I absolutely love about documentary filmmaking is that we work as a team. It’s really one big creative effort. I really rely on the people that I work with – the wonderful cinematographers, my associate producer who is just the best researcher in the world. And of course the NATURE team. I have gotten such amazing support from them.

Q: Chimpanzees is a very poignant film, and also presents a strong point of view. Do you think a documentary should seek to sway public opinion, and is that something you aim for with your films?

A: What I sought to do with this film is to provoke thought, and encourage people to ask more questions, instead of just accept the status quo. If any documentary filmmaker is to be completely honest, everything’s subjective because you choose when to roll the camera, for example, and when to stop the camera. You choose where to point the lens. You choose which locations to go to. So it never can be completely objective, though we all want to be as objective as we can as documentary filmmakers.

My mantra throughout the whole film was “just the facts.” Just the facts, and don’t comment on it. Don’t say, “And isn’t this sad, or isn’t this terrible.” Because I think it’s more respectful of the audience if you can present the stories and just say, “You decide for yourself.” For example, I don’t say, “And Billy Jo [a chimpanzee] was tortured in the laboratory.” I never say something like that. But Gloria goes through his records. “Punch biopsy.” “Bone marrow transplant.” And you can decide if you think that that would be a positive or a negative experience for a chimpanzee. So I tried really hard not to comment emotionally, but I can’t hide the fact that in general I think we have treated chimpanzees very poorly in our society.

Q: Were you surprised by anything during the making of the film?

A: Definitely. I was amazed by how truly communicative chimpanzees are. Obviously with one another they’re extremely communicative. But what I mean is how easy it is for human beings, if you just open yourself a little bit, to communicate with them, and how they can so easily communicate with us. I guess it’s because we share so much genetic material, but also I think it’s a certain similar kind of intelligence that we share.

Q: Do you have any anecdotes from making the film you’d like to share?

A: Up at Fauna Foundation [outside Montreal], a female chimpanzee named Pepper was grooming my arm and she clearly wanted me to take my watch off because it was in the way. So I took my watch off and she had it so fast! It was in the cage, and I thought, “Oh well, that’s the end of the watch. I really liked that watch, too.” She grasped it in her foot, since they can use their feet like hands. So she held it in her foot and groomed me for about 10 minutes. And then when she was finished, she very gently took it out of her foot and handed it out to me. And I was just amazed. It was so considerate, sensitive. She understood that it was something that was mine, something that I liked.

Q: Did you have trouble getting people from the government to talk on camera for the film?

A: Yes. I tried to call a higher-up person at the NIH who deals with chimpanzee issues, and I was immediately blocked and sent to the P.R. department. I just wanted to get his point of view, to start there. But I was told “No, you have to go through us.” So I sent in some of my films and told them what the film was about. And about a month later, they basically said, “Sorry, we’re just too busy right now. No one can talk to you.” We also contacted all of the laboratories that are still actively using chimpanzees and were told that we couldn’t film within the labs. We’d then ask, “Can we interview one of your scientists?” And they all said no.

Q: Do you think the film suffered at all for their absence, or did you consciously try and make up for it in other ways?

A: It’s a good question. I was really upset that I wouldn’t have that balance. But then I realized, I’m making a documentary and that’s the reality of it. That is the balance. I couldn’t speak for them myself. We were allowed no information, and that became a statement in itself. I did present that there is an ongoing debate about the use of chimpanzees, and we hear from scientists on both sides of the fence.

Q: Why did you decide to take in all of those chimps at once?

A: I didn’t have a choice. The day that I went to the lab and met the chimps, I decided I would be taking whomever I met. I was introduced to two groups of chimps — 15 in total, 7 of which were infected with HIV. There was no way I was going to discriminate. I met the chimps and I decided that, even if they were HIV positive, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t even a question in my mind. We would overcome the obstacles.

Q: What safety precautions are necessary when working with chimps that have HIV?

A: We did everything we needed to do in terms of learning about HIV. We had healthcare workers come in to educate our staff about working with the chimps. And we knew that the two primary methods for contracting the disease were intercourse and exchange of needles. But we are at the same risk as doctors, police officers, and healthcare workers– we’re not really at a greater risk. Plus, we knew who had the virus. The chimps had been labeled and they were behind bars.

Q: Are chimps your favorite animal?

A: Actually no. Pigs are probably my favorite animals. Probably because you have to show pigs a reason to listen to you. You have to wait until they’re ready. When I think about it, that’s probably why I work so well with chimps-you have to have patience. But I always loved chimps. And certainly my passion through life has been helping animals. So with this general passion for helping animals, it was just logical for me to do what I could to help the chimps. I always say that if you’re going to find something to do with your life, do something you’re passionate about. And though I certainly never thought I’d have chimps living on my property, meeting the chimps has been the most incredible experience in my life

Q: Is it hard to face the previous owners, the people who sold the chimps to research?

A: I do have a conflict with that. Initially, I didn’t want to have anything to do with the previous owners-or the lab workers and entertainment people. But then I had to see both sides. The humans were extremely traumatized also. They watched the chimps suffer. They gave them up. They suffered a lot. Also, I needed those people to learn about the chimps. To hear their history.

Q: What was it like when they first moved in?

A: For the first three years after the chimps first moved in, it was pretty terrifying and very dramatic — pretty much every day. There would always be an aggressive act, an attempt made on a body part all the time. Which is understandable given their history. Just being captive when you don’t deserve to be is traumatic enough. I liken them to maximum-security inmates or patients in a mental hospital. Like prisoners, they misbehave to get attention. It’s the only way they can have control. Or like juvenile delinquents, they act out all the time. But as the years pass, there’s some sort of healing.

Q: Why is it so important for them to have islands?

A: It just gives them a chance to make choices; to have control. When all of their choices have been taken away I try to give them something. The chimps can choose if they want to go out to the islands and who they want to go out with.

But the islands are a place with no bars over their heads. They can come out, surrounded by water and look up at the sky without any obstruction. There’s a vegetable garden on one of the islands. One of the females, Pepper, likes to pick her own veggies. She’ll take her blanket with her and camp out on the island at night. She likes the quiet, away from the rest of the group. Just a chance to go out onto their islands, has changed their personalities a lot.

Plus, they just love it– even in the winter. Actually they love the snow. They are very conditioned to our weather. We put maple syrup on the snow and they eat it like kids do. They love icicles and snowmen. And it’s pretty funny to see them smashing snowmen down.

Q: Could you share some of your most memorable moments?

A: Wow. I’ve had a memorable moment with everybody who’s here. There’s always that crucial moment when you know you’ll never be the same again. Take Tom, who climbed the tree in the end of the show. I’ve fallen in love with Tommy again. He never paid attention to me before. He loves chimps. He loves males. All of Tom’s life here, he had male caretakers. Pat was his main person. But Pat doesn’t work here anymore so Tommy has had to get used to me. And at 40 years old, he’s not a young guy. You’d think after 9 years, there wouldn’t be anything that changes the relationship. But it does. With Tommy, I could almost always cry, laugh and be incredibly depressed or really happy. They’re pretty powerful in that respect.

Q: Any plans for more chimps?

A: No. Fifteen is nothing but, at the time, it was a lot. Now my purpose and goal is to help people understand what the lives of these chimps are like. We have a whole family and staff- we have a lot of really close family that come in. A lot of people that (the chimps) can go to for help. Some chimps are attached to me or my sister. All (of the chimps) have people they really love a lot… it’s a good idea (for them) to have some sort of relationship, especially intimate ones.

Q: The film focuses mainly on chimps used in biomedical research, but what about chimps used as pets or entertainment?

A: Gosh, there are just so many reasons but the minute you take a chimp away from its mom, you’ve affected its personality. Anytime you take a chimp to be raised for entertainment or used as pets, you’ve changed its chances of being a chimp. At 7 years old, these animals are expensive, strong and dangerous. And that’s usually when the owner realizes they can’t handle them-and sells them for research. So the chimp’s life is over but they’re going to live another 30 years.

Some would say entertainment is worse than research. Mainly because what people don’t see is that “training chimps” for entertainment usually means beating them or yelling at them. The physical abuse of research is not even as bad as entertainment. They’re punching 20-30 pound babies in the head and the back. Yelling at them. Keeping them in fear. They pull all of their teeth out so they don’t bite. And there’s no reason for it. It’s totally unnecessary. Also, we’re probably not going to convince people too quickly to stop research but entertainment is a waste of life.

Q: Do you have a message for viewers moved by the film?

A: I’d like people to know that anybody can do something. Rescue a dog or a cat, learn about wetlands. I hope people get inspired to do something they care about. And it can be challenging and depressing but just physically being with the chimps is motivating. And you have to be happy. You can’t be depressed. Because they pick up on that and your mood can affect their mood. If you see someone in a cage that you rescued, you care for them with love. You see them go into a nice clean room, open a packet of toys, get their favorite food, that’s what you do it for. It’s the little rewards.

From studies of chimpanzees in the wild by researchers like Jane Goodall, we know that wild chimps develop close, affectionate bonds with members of their community. They maintain friendships, play together, groom each other, and even communicate through hugs, kisses, pats on the back, or tickles. But living an isolated existence, captive chimps may never even see another chimp, much less develop natural bonds. Living a life of captivity leaves deep scars and identity crisis — even in those chimps lucky enough to retire to a sanctuary like Fauna Foundation.

Fauna Foundation’s founder, Gloria Grow, says she has seen the traumatic effects of being locked up in every single one of her rescued research chimps. They’ve suffered so much,” says Grow. “Many of them have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We have to know that when we do these things to chimps, we’ve destroyed them. ” Even at a safe and comfortable sanctuary like Fauna Foundation, Grow says it’s common to see the chimps rocking, pulling their hair out, or having a tantrum.

Billy Jo, she says, was one of the most emotionally complex chimps she’s known-for good reason. When he was a baby in the circus, all of his teeth were knocked out with a crowbar. As a teenager at the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates, a.k.a. LEMSIP, a New York University research facility that closed in 1997, Billy was infected with HIV, knocked down with a dart gun over 60 times, and endured 40 punch liver biopsies. In the lab he would shake his cage back and forth, trying desperately to prevent anyone from approaching. He even chewed off his digits. Even at the Fauna Foundation, Billy was plagued by anxiety attacks-attacks so bad that they left him choking, gagging and convulsing. “Billy could be violent and aggressive– throw feces, throw his food from the food cart,” says Grow

Grow says Billy could never be comfortable within a group of chimps and, as a result, he has had very few interactions with other chimps. But Billy eventually developed bonds with Grow and some of the other caretakers at the sanctuary, particularly women. “Billy was a caring, nurturing guy who liked to kiss people on the lips. He would drop everything for a woman,” says Grow. To draw out the gentle nature of this confused chimp, Grow’s tactic was to treat Billy as an individual, not as a wild chimp. She considered his history, his personality, and his needs. “Billy really appreciated when we were communicating with him. It’s like taking up their language,” she says.

Grow applies this approach to all of her chimps. She says she’s glad she didn’t try to learn everything she could about captive chimps before she rescued her group, or she would have it all wrong. “We call them people,” says Grow, “not chimps. “They have been displaced. They’re a displaced people. They’ve been raised by humans and they’re so confused by that.”

Grow says teaching the chimps to be chimps again is a gradual process-one that involves countless hours of human interactions and then gradual coaxing to interact with other chimps. “We had to teach them how to be chimps again.”

As Grow explains, once a chimp has been removed from the wild, there’s no putting them back. They have lost the window of opportunity to learn the ways of the community. For rescued chimps, understanding and giving people like Gloria Grow, Patti Ragan and Carol Noon are their only hope. But Grow says the effort, time, and patience of breaking the communication barriers are well worth it. “They’re pretty moving individuals. Communicating with them makes your hair stand up. They’re so intense.”