DEATH AND TAXIDERMY

(Short documentary, 23 minutes)

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of stuffing animals. The compulsion to keep animals intact after death goes back to ancient Egypt, where animals of all description were mummified. Though the methods and motivations have changed, the desire has remained pretty constant.

Meet Beth Beverly, a young taxidermist turning the craft on its head; John Whitenight, a faithful and eccentric collector of Victorian taxidermy; and the polar bears and gorillas that stand motionless at Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Together they relay taxidermy’s long history of combining art and science.

This video won second place in the 2016 Raw Science Film Festival category of “professional documentary longer than 10 minutes.”

Directed, produced, and edited by Mariel Carr
Director of Photography: Mariel Carr
Animator: Jacob Rivkin