THE MAN OF THE MONKEY

SYNOPSIS

Intrigued by the tale of a strange man living in isolation with a chimpanzee, filmmaker David Romberg travels to his childhood home on Ilha Grande, Brazil to find him, only to discover that the tale pales in comparison to the what he uncovers.

Set on a remote jungle island in Brazil, “The Man of the Monkey”, unravels a labyrinth of interconnected uncanny characters, all seeking refuge. Amongst them, an exiled Jewish Argentine artist haunted by phantoms of the past, an aging prisoner with nowhere to go, and a suspected Nazi living in isolation with a monkey.

Moving between personal and collective histories about political turmoil and displacement, the film illuminates the intricacies and contradictions by which trauma defines our identities in the never-ending search for a home.

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The film has been supported by The Heineken VOCES Grant, The TFI Latin America Fund, The IFP Documentary Filmmaker Lab and The TFI/A+E INDIEFILMS STORYLAB

CREW

Director- David Romberg

David Romberg spent his childhood living in Brazil and Israel. Currently he is based in Philadelphia and has been supported by the Tribeca Film Institute's Latin American Media Arts Fund Heineken VOCES Grant, The Princess Grace Foundation Grant and was selected to participate in the 2014 IFP Documentary Labs Program. David has also recently become a fellow of the Robert Flaherty Seminar and was awarded a Princess Grace Special Project fund to develop his upcoming docu/fiction film "The Return".

Producer - Robert Girvin 

Bob has over 15 years of experience in accounting as a CPA and holds degrees in Accounting and Finance from Villanova University. In addition to Producing “Man of the Monkey,” in 2013 he received his MBA in International Business, graduating with honors, from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona.

Consulting Producer - Daniel Chalfen

Daniel J. Chalfen is a Peabody and duPont winning and multiple-Emmy nominated film and television producer and a co-founder of Naked Edge Films. His documentaries have premiered at the world’s foremost film festivals, including Berlin, SXSW, Toronto and Tribeca, have been released by companies including Samuel Goldwyn Films, Participant Media, Kino Lorber, and FilmRise and have aired/streamed worldwide including on Al Jazeera, Amazon, ARTE, CBC, DirecTV, Discovery ID, HBO, More4, Netflix, NHK, Showtime, PBS and ZDF, among others.

Cinematographer - Gaston Girod

Based in Buenos Aires Argentina, Gaston Girod has shot commercials, fiction films and documentaries including "Panama - A Land Divided, a World United" (2013) by Abner Benaim, “The Eye of the Shark” (2013) by Alejo Hoijman, “AU3 Autopista Central” (2010) by Alejandro Hartmann and most recently the documentary “Ruben Blades is not my name” by Abner Benaim.  

Editor - Carlos Cambariere

Carlos Cambariere is a graduate of the Center for Cinematographic Research. He has worked extensively with Miguel Pérez (both academically and professionally) and director Juan Bautista Stagnaro.  He has recently worked on films such as "Lightning in the Dark" (2014), "The Son of God" (2016), and television shows such as "Conservation Heros" for National Geographic and "Un gallo para Esculapio" for TNT.