If you've ever spent time with a rat, you know they're curious, playful, and can form strong bonds with people.

In our film, A Small Body, a young student researcher forms a bond with a laboratory rat facing an endpoint experiment. Set during a single night in a research laboratory, the film follows his growing conflict with his lab manager after he takes matters into his own hands. Their confrontation invites audiences to grapple with the human decisions and ethical tensions surrounding the treatment of animals in scientific research.

Through narrative storytelling, A Small Body aims to make these complex questions accessible to audiences who might not otherwise engage with animal research and advocacy issues, while also shedding light on the often-hidden inner conflicts and workplace dynamics of scientific research. Following production, we plan to pursue film festival screenings as well as public and educational screenings at libraries, universities, community organizations, and nonprofit organizations. Through these screenings and accompanying presentations, the film will create opportunities for conversation among scientists, key stakeholders, animal advocates, community members, and beyond.

The film will also help introduce audiences to emerging technologies and research methods that seek to reduce or replace the use of animals in scientific research. Screenings will also paired with broader educational presentations that increase awareness of these developments and the possibilities they offer for research without cruelty to animals.

Your support will help bring this important project to audiences and create opportunities for meaningful dialogue about compassion, scientific research, and a future of science without cruelty to animals.

Note: A Small Body has been specifically written to portray a rat only in natural, compassionate interactions with humans. We have already partnered with an animal advocate and animal-rescue professional who lives with a companion rat, born to a rescued mother and raised in a home environment, making the rat very comfortable around people. Scenes that include the rat show interactions that allow the animal to exhibit natural behavior.

Writer/Director Kevin Sherwin is a filmmaker, writer, composer, and interdisciplinary artist whose work explores connections between storytelling and animal advocacy. His creative work has been presented at institutions including the University of Oxford, Yale University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, and Joe’s Pub.

Sherwin previously wrote, directed, and composed the animal advocacy short, How Do You Milk an Almond?, created to educate audiences who might not otherwise encounter animal rights issues. The film premiered at Yale Law School, was included on the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Recommended Films List, won Best Musical at Mexico City’s Festival Internacional de Cine Animal y Ambiental (FICAA), and screened at festivals, libraries, universities, and law schools across the country. The project was also adapted into a live musical presented at Merkin Hall in New York City.

His current project, A Small Body, continues this work through narrative filmmaking, exploring questions of compassion, animals in scientific research, and public ethics.