Ming of Harlem: Twenty One Storeys in the Air
Available on MUBI, Prime Video
Phillip Warnell’s beautifully crafted, haunting documentary explores the secret lives, behaviour and extreme levels of human-beast intimacy and communication, focusing on the 'only in New York' story of Antoine Yates. In October 2003, Yates was arrested for reckless endangerment, following the discovery of his cohabitation in a Harlem high-rise with Ming, a five-hundred-pound tiger and Al, a seven-foot alligator. Warnell explores the story of Yates and combines this, to stunning effect, with filmic observation of predators in domesticated geographies. Winner of the Prix Georges de Beauregard at FID Marseille in 2014 and the Universities Culturgest Prize at Indie Lisboa in 2015.
Starring Antoine Yates
Director Phillip Warnell