In suburban California, a wild peafowl population splits the community
Across many traditions, peacocks have been admired as emblems of beauty, luck and regal power. In Arcadia, California, their reputation is far less settled. After a small number of peafowl were brought from India to the area in the late 19th century, their descendants multiplied into a free-roaming population that now wanders through lawns, driveways and quiet residential streets. To some locals, the birds are a cherished part of the city’s identity; to others, they are noisy, destructive neighbours whose presence has become impossible to ignore.
In Our Neighbors, The Peacocks, the US filmmaker Callie Barlow turns this suburban dispute into a wry and perceptive community portrait. Moving through the tidy homes and manicured streets of Los Angeles County, she gathers residents’ sharply divided views while capturing the birds in images that are both comic and strangely graceful: out of place, perhaps, but entirely at ease. As affection, irritation and questions of responsibility collide, the film leaves behind a larger unease. When humans bring animals into our world and they learn to live there, who gets to decide when they no longer belong?
Director: Callie Barlow
Website: Short of the Week
