Nottingham filmmaker Sharon Walia’s work has covered a variety of topics – from guinea pigs to refugees. With her newest documentary, The Route to Cappyness, she looks at how the world’s largest rodent could be the key to positivity across the globe, from Brazil and Japan to the USA and Wheelgate Park. We spoke to Sharon about why the capybara is important, how she made the film, and her travels across the UK, USA, Brazil, and Japan.
You've gone from The Keepers of the Pigs to The Movement, and now The Route to Cappyness. Looking back across your three documentaries, what thread connects them?
Someone once introduced me at a Q&A by saying that my films all come from the heart, and I think that's true. Although The Keepers of the Pigs, The Movement and The Route to Cappyness explore very different subjects, they're all driven by compassion and the human stories. In both The Keepers of the Pigs and The Route to Cappyness, we don't just focus on the animals – we focus on the people whose lives have been changed by them. But in terms of practical, aesthetic elements, I always have my voiceover in it, and invite people to come on the journey with me.
Capybaras have become an unlikely global obsession in recent years. What was the moment that made you think, ‘There's a documentary in this’?
I started seeing social media from zoos, and capybaras with the yuzu fruit on their head in the spa, along with lots of memes, and thought, ‘Okay, this documentary hasn't really been done’. There was one many years ago, but it was more of a wildlife documentary, so I thought I'd better get on it quickly because someone's going to do it before me. And it really did snowball.
I went to Yorkshire Wildlife Park first to film them, and asked if they’d seen a surge in their popularity - they said, ‘Everyone’s capybara mad here. People come from all over England just to see the capybaras’. So as soon as I did that interview, I knew I had something, and I'm not going to do this documentary without going to Brazil.
It's called The Route to Cappyness because I go on a journey, the audience comes with me, and we find out why these animals are so viral, what they're doing for humans, and how we could all learn from capybaras.
The film takes you from Nottingham to Brazil, Japan, and the USA. Did each country have a different relationship with capybaras, or were there surprising similarities in how people connect with them?
The place I went to in Brazil is called Curitiba, or the ‘City of Capybaras’. You walk down to the park and there's loads of capybaras, all co-existing with humans – they walk on the roads and people stop their cars. Not all over Brazil, but where I was, it is like seeing a pigeon or a squirrel – they're everywhere.
When I was interviewing Luciano the capybara whisperer, he said, ‘You guys in England, you have to pay or drive miles to see them; here, we walk down the park and see them.’ But the fascination is still there. When I was there, people from all over the world came to see them.
In Japan, they have something called the cuteness culture, or ‘kawaii’. They value harmony and peace, and that's why they brought the capybaras over in the 60s, put them in hot springs because they like to watch them bathe – they found that capybaras love doing that. In Japan, they connect everyone because they're very tranquil, as you'll see in the film.
Capybaras have a vital place in our environment. And in the film, without spoiling it too much, we talk about the importance of protecting our spaces, natural parks, and the environment around us
At its heart, the film is about well-being rather than simply being an animal documentary. What do you think humans can genuinely learn from capybaras, beyond the internet memes?
Throughout it, there is an animal scientist from Nottingham Trent University, Dr. Jacqueline Boyd. She's amazing, and we talk about the positive aspects of touching, stroking or just watching an animal. Dr. Boyd says that even just looking at an animal can have the same benefits as stroking it; it reduces cortisol and increases oxytocin – the love hormone. So that's the technical science side, which the film gets into. But in terms of what we can learn – the world is such a sad and busy place at the moment, and I think this film is a distraction from that.
You've built the film with a regional crew, including collaborators from marginalised backgrounds. How important was it to keep the production rooted in Nottingham, even while telling a global story?
I think we need to support our homegrown talent. Creativity in Nottingham, it's really hard, and it's really easy to give up because a lot of people want to make money and live from what they do. I feel like just giving people those opportunities makes them – it gives them work experience. Ben, who worked on the film, said to me that it really helped him because he got further opportunities.
The film is touring not just the UK but also the USA, Japan, and Brazil. How does it feel knowing a documentary that started with a Nottingham-based team will be playing to audiences around the world?
I've had a UK theatrical release, but then I thought - look, Capybaras aren't just popular in the UK, they're exploding worldwide. So why don't we go to the places I've filmed, contact distributors there and say would you like to screen it? And we've had people say, ‘Yes, we love this idea!’ It's great because we're showcasing Nottingham talent worldwide.
Do you kind of think that the capybaras in this film and their attitude – for lack of a better word – towards the environment and each other will help bring some important issues to light for the audience?
Definitely. Capybaras have a vital place in our environment. And in the film, without spoiling it too much, we talk about the importance of protecting our spaces, natural parks, and the environment around us.
Not many people know that capybaras are seed dispersers. They help replant forests, because everything they digest, they poop out, so we learn about the environmental aspects. But the message in the film is also about passing what we learn on to the next generation. It's about appreciating small things.
If audiences leave the cinema after The Route to Cappyness with just one lasting thought or feeling, what do you hope it is?
I hope they all leave feeling cappyness! It's the route to cappyness. The audience comes on a journey with me and if they take one thing away from that, it's going to be wellbeing and cappyness. So yeah – be more cappy!
To get your own dose of cappyness attend the premiere of The Route to Cappyness at Broadway Cinema on September 19 2026.
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