Filmmaker Penny Lane Sets Documentary on Bronx Zoo Elephant, ‘Happy’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Documentary filmmaker Penny Lane (“Hail Satan?,” “Our Nixon”) has set her latest documentary on the Bronx Zoo elephant, Happy. The doc is being made in partnership with Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions and Sandbox Films.

The untitled feature documentary reunites Lane with producers Gabriel Sedgwick and Julia Lewis, the creative team behind “Wild Inside,” the documentary focusing on Flaco the owl.

Lane’s film is based on an article penned by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore. Happy came to the U.S. from Thailand during the Vietnam War as an infant. Joining six other baby elephants at a Florida petting zoo, where each was named after one of Disney’s Seven Dwarfs, the untitled feature will explore the extraordinary lives of all seven elephants, covering a tumultuous 50-year period marked by changing perspectives on elephant care, management, cognition, and animal rights. Happy was euthanized on May 26 at the age of 55.

Lane say, “Happy’s story, and the story of her six ‘siblings’, is a deeply fascinating journey through fifty years of human-elephant relationships in the United States, thousands of miles from any natural elephant habitat.” She adds, “Through this strange family saga spanning zoos, theme parks, circuses and sanctuaries, the film explores the complex intersection of science, conservation, capitalism, ethics, and law, and asks how our evolving understanding of elephants should change the way we coexist with them.”

Happy gained recognition for passing the mirror self-recognition test, a feat that highlighted her advanced self-awareness. Later, Happy became the plaintiff in a landmark legal case arguing that her high degree of autonomy and intelligence warranted legal recognition as a “person.”

Gibney says, “I’ve admired Penny’s work for years. She’s an incredibly original filmmaker with a real gift for finding surprising ways into complicated subjects. I’m excited to have the chance to collaborate with her, and with our partners at Sandbox, on this film.”