Events

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK. THE RESCHEDULED DATE WILL BE POSTED AS SOON AS IT IS AVAILABLE.

As part of its 25th Anniversary celebration, the Berman Institute is proud to present “Expanding Our Conversations: Films that Underscore Important Issues in Bioethics,” a series of documentary film screenings followed by panel discussions of the important bioethical issues they raise.

Read more about other films in the series.

The first film in the series is “Unlocking the Cage,” a film by Chris Hegedus and the late D.A Pennebaker — the renowned documentary team that received a special Oscar in 2012. Coco the gorilla plays an important part in this film along with animal rights activist/attorney Stephen Wise. The documentary captures a monumental shift in our culture, as the public and judicial system show increasing receptiveness to Wise’s impassioned arguments to grant rights to “nonhuman” animals. It is an intimate look at a lawsuit that could forever transform our legal system, and one man’s lifelong quest to protect living creatures.

Panelists (click here for panelists’ full bios):

• Steven Wise, former president of the Animal Defense Legal Fund and founder and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project
• Jeff Kahn, Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director of the Berman Institute and Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy
• Ruth Faden, Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics and founder, Berman Institute of Bioethics
• Tom Beauchamp, Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, and Senior Research Scholar at the University’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics