A journey behind the locked doors of animal research laboratories, where scientists confront a growing unease with the experiments they carry out on monkeys.

With rare access to one of the largest animal labs in the US, at the University of Washington, Seattle, Sentient enters a high-security world most people never see. Here, researchers speak openly about the 'care-kill complex' that defines their daily lives, experimenting on monkeys they have formed deep bonds with. At the heart of the story is Dr Lisa Jones Engel, one of the lab's most decorated scientists, who after decades working with chimps and monkeys experienced a profound epiphany that her life's work was wrong. Accessible and unflinching, this is a film that holds space for multiple perspectives while asking uncomfortable questions about the ethics we choose to look away from.

Content guidance: Film contains scenes of animal experimentation.