GFDD Celebrates Elephant Conservation at the NY Wild Film Festival

GFDD was present for the inauguration of the NY Wild Film Festival at The Explorers Club in New York on Thursday January 29. The festival, followed the entry of over 200 films from 27 countries across the globe , the first annual documentary film festival in New York to showcase a spectrum of topics, from exploration and adventure to wildlife and the environment, bringing all things WILD to the most
urban city in the world.

The inauguration ceremony featured two screenings of environmental documentaries focused on elephant conservation.The first was Soul of the Elephant which won the award for Best Wildlife Film, and the second was Warlords of Ivorywhich won the award for Best Conservation
Film.

Soul of the Elephant was made by Dereck and Beverly Joubert, two award winning National Geographic journalists from Botswana who have been Explorers-in-Residence for over four years. Their mission is the conservation and understanding of the large predators and key African wildlife species that determine the course of all conservation in Africa. They have been filming, researching, and exploring in Africa for over 25 years.

In the film, Dereck and Beverly Joubert start with the remains of two bull elephants and through a series of key flashbacks, look at the lives they would have led, the dramas they may have seen, their great migrations for water with their families, and their encounters with lions and hyenas. This film, shot over two years, is an intimate look at elephants through the lens of perhaps the greatest storytellers
of natural history.

The second film, Warlords of Ivory, was written by John Hemingway an established wildlife writer and screenplay writer. The film follows investigative journalist Bryan Christy, who sets out on a groundbreaking mission to expose how the ivory trade funds some of Africa’s most notorious militias and terrorist groups. Working with one of the world’s top
taxidermists, he conceals a sophisticated GPS tracker inside an incredibly realistic faux ivory tusk and drops it in the heart of ivory poaching country and monitors its movements to track down the kingpins of the ivory trade.

Following the screenings, the audience was invited for a Q&A session with the producer of the film Katie Carpenter and the screenwriter John Hemingway. Hemingway explained his reason for making the film, stating that “I got so mad
about the ivory trade that I decided to make a film to expose it.” He continued to thank the audience for viewing the film and stressed the importance of having screenings by highlighting that “when you 100 people interested in these issues together in a room for a debate then you can really start to make a difference.”

About NY Wild Film Festival
NY Wild Film Festival is the  first annual documentary film festival in New
York to showcase a spectrum of topics, from exploration and adventure to wildlife and the environment, bringing all things WILD to the most urban city in the world.

Related Links:
http://www.nywildfilmfestival.com/