• The award-winning film celebrates Kenya’s extraordinary wildlife and biodiversity
• The countrywide tour seeks to inspire a future generation of conservationists
Image: courtesy
Mobile Cinema and Outreach Programme will start a nationwide journey in Mombasa today, carrying the acclaimed film ‘The Elephant Queen’.
The film will be shared all over the country to inspire Kenyans of all ages towards an appreciation and understanding of elephants and the environment.
The Kenyan feature documentary, filmed in the greater Tsavo-Amboseli ecosystem, tells a stirring and intimate story of the most majestic and sentient animals in Africa and stars the ultimate leading lady – Athena - an elephant matriarch who will do everything in her power to protect her family when they are forced to leave their waterhole.
The film, which celebrates Kenya’s extraordinary wildlife and biodiversity, has won, among many accolades, the Cinema for Peace Award, the UN World Wildlife Day Biodiversity Award and Best Cinematography at DOC NYC.
Making the film took a small dedicated team led by directors Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone and assistant director Etienne Oliff, 10 years. In that time, elephants descended into crisis.
What the filmmakers observed — the poaching for ivory, the increasing human-wildlife conflict and the loss of elephant rangelands — convinced them that more needed to be done.
And so ‘The Elephant Queen Outreach Programme’ was born, to use the film and associated resources to inspire and unite Kenyan youth towards an understanding and appreciation of elephants and the wild spaces that they and the biodiversity they support.
This remarkable ‘must-see’ set of materials includes a series of 28 literacy-based learn-to-read books based on the film's wildlife characters and themes.
There are also materials designed to inspire young Kenyans towards careers in wildlife conservation and the natural sciences. These include short elephant videos, children activity packs, colouring-in books, podcasts from the making of the film, inspirational theatre toolboxes for children of different ages and fascinating interviews with leading Kenyan elephant experts.
In each resource, authentic natural history is woven into engaging stories and narratives, all of which may, with time, inspire a new generation of Kenyan conservation leaders.
Housed on the programme’s website, www.elephant.co.ke, all these resources are available free of charge in East Africa.