{"id":336301,"date":"2026-09-02T21:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T21:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/336301\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T21:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T21:16:19","slug":"doc-filmmaker-penny-lane-sets-next-feature-happy-about-bronx-zoo-elephant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/336301\/","title":{"rendered":"Doc Filmmaker Penny Lane Sets Next Feature, ‘Happy’ About Bronx Zoo Elephant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDocumentary filmmaker Penny Lane<\/a> (\u201cHail Satan?,\u201d \u201cOur Nixon\u201d) has set her latest documentary on the Bronx Zoo elephant, Happy<\/a>. The doc is being made in partnership with Alex Gibney\u2019s Jigsaw Productions and Sandbox Films.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe untitled feature documentary reunites Lane with producers Gabriel Sedgwick and Julia Lewis, the creative team behind \u201cWild Inside,\u201d the documentary focusing on Flaco the owl.<\/p>\n

\n\tLane\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tLane say, \u201cHappy\u2019s story, and the story of her six \u2018siblings\u2019, is a deeply fascinating journey through fifty years of human-elephant relationships in the United States, thousands of miles from any natural elephant habitat.\u201d She adds, \u201cThrough 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHappy 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 \u201cperson.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGibney says, \u201cI\u2019ve admired Penny\u2019s work for years. She\u2019s an incredibly original filmmaker with a real gift for finding surprising ways into complicated subjects. I\u2019m excited to have the chance to collaborate with her, and with our partners at Sandbox, on this film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the process of making the film, the team is currently gathering memories, photos, videos, and stories from anyone who has encountered Happy and the six other Dwarf elephants. A timeline of the elephants\u2019 known locations and name changes, along with information on how to submit materials, is available at elephantdocumentary.com. The material submitted doesn\u2019t need to be professional quality to be valuable for the film or as historical documentation.<\/p>\n

Along with Gibney, executive producers include Wendy Schmidt and Razan Ghalayini for Jigsaw Productions, Jessica Harrop for Sandbox Films, Julie Parker Benello for Secret Sauce Media, and Jill Lepore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Documentary filmmaker Penny Lane (\u201cHail Satan?,\u201d \u201cOur Nixon\u201d) has set her latest documentary on the Bronx Zoo elephant,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,2402,7950,9,24,63,118195,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-336301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-documentaries-to-watch","tag-happy","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-penny-lane","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}