Tony Jones' new documentary Sentient, about monkeys used for medical testing and research, and the people who have to care for them before they kill them, had its world premiere at this year's prestigious Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

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"I was in the 'emerging filmmakers' category," Jones said with a laugh.

"There were these 20-something hipsters and then there was me."

Jones, 69, may be new on the independent filmmaking scene but he's a veteran broadcaster, having worked for the ABC for decades, including on its flagship program Four Corners and as host of Lateline and then Q&A.

It was while he was in the Q&A chair that a guest, bioethics professor Peter Singer, was asked by an audience member about his thoughts on how people treated animals.

Singer pulled no punches, saying that the way people used animals would eventually be seen in the same shameful way as human slavery. It was something that resonated with Jones and became the spark of Sentient.

The documentary looks at the biomedical industry, largely in the United States, which uses animals for testing and research for medicines, including vaccines.

The focus is on the animals, in this case macaque monkeys, but also the scientists, researchers and carers, who work every day with the animals, form a bond with them, and, ultimately, have to kill them, in all kinds of ways, including injecting them with disease.

Jones said studies had found overwhelmingly that people working in these laboratories also suffered, including from depression, compassion fatigue and post-traumatic stress disorder.

"It's a fascinating and unknown fact that these institutions are effectively damaging people and the reason I think you should be compassionate to the workers is that they're very far from being monsters. They're people who love........

© Canberra Times