The International Wildlife Film Festival - 2012 - Missoula,MT.

THE 35^TH INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE FILM FESTIVAL –

Overcoming geographical boundaries

BY Apoorva Joshi

In a world where video games and PlayStations are toppers on the list of things that juvenile heirs of well-off families enjoy most, the natural world is rapidly turning into a Narnia-like experience. 


Except in Montana.

Some 35 years ago, a group of wildlife biologists and their students, along with an executive producer of The Nature Of Things, pulled off the first wildlife film festival in the world. The idea was hatched and nurtured on the grounds of The University of Montana in Missoula, MT.

“The point was to bring together a whole collection of spectacular visuals from across the world,” Janet Rose, executive director of the International Wildlife Media Center and Film Festivals, said. 

“It’s a feast for the eyes, the ears, and the mind. These are films about places which most people won’t end up going to, species they won’t get a chance to see in the wild." 

Talking about films like Broken Tail – voted best film of the festival in 2012 – Rose emphasized the potential for a top notch film like this one to influence an audience longitudes away from where it was filmed.

Based on the journey of director Colin Stafford-Johnson, Broken Tail was filmed in the dry wilderness of northwestern India’s Ranthambhore national park. Broken Tail, the ‘protagonist’, was one of India’s and the world’s most famous wild tigers. Named for his tail, which looked as though it were broken because of the way it suddenly curved upwards, he suddenly disappeared from Ranthambhore and managed to survive for a year in rural Rajasthan – a northwestern state in India.

“ This film just had it all. A great story, phenomenal cinematography, and a script that tugs at your heart’s strings,” Rose said. “Tigers are globally recognized and they are just so charismatic. Stories like these that have a human component to them really resonate with people more than films that are just hard science. India has done such an amazing job in engaging local people to participate in tiger conservation,” she said.

Speaking of India, among the winners this year, voted as one of the best television series films, is Secrets of Wild India – Elephant Kingdom. Second of a three-part series, Elephant Kingdom was filmed in the dense forests of northeastern India that share borders with Bhutan, Bangladesh, China and Myanmar.

Back in 2010, Bristol, U.K., was the birthplace of the idea for this film. Members of National Geographic Wild and the producers and team of Icon Films met to discuss the rough idea for filming in the lush but difficult terrain of northeastern India.

“The main idea was to create a lovely, pure, highly visual naturalistic documentary which could pictorially bring out the uniqueness of India’s wildlife and its epic animals,” Sandesh Kadur, principal cinematographer for Elephant Kingdom, said.

Kadur has worked extensively in the region, and his deep knowledge of the area and its wildlife were a definite advantage for the team.

“The specifications just evolved along with the story and with what the animals were doing at the time,” he said.

With the number of films entered in the competitive festival rising each year, Janet Rose highlighted their educational and inspirational value.

“The filmmakers get to see how the audience reacts to their film and the audience gets an intimate, personal experience even though they might be in a crowd of a thousand people,” Rose said. “Many of these films have never been seen before and may never be seen again if they don’t make it to television.”

A COMPLETE LIST OF THE 2012 IWFF AWARD WINNING FILMS CAN BE FOUND HERE

Being Bear Aware

Published: April 16th, 2012
BY Apoorva Joshi

As bear season approaches, new residents and visitors need to be bear aware. Just what are the bears that you are likely to encounter in Montana and what are they doing right about now?

Also, for interested individuals - the Great Bear Foundation and its allies are conducting a bear-aware lecture tomorrow as well as taking participants up for a hike in the Rattlesnake. This could be your chance to explore the post-winter form of the Rattlesnake area and learn about bears from the most experienced people. 


The events kicks-off at 6pm and goes till 8pm. Interested people can contact the Great Bear Foundation and talk to Chuck Jonkel at: 406-829-9378


FIND THE ABOVE ARTICLE HERE

'We Bought A Zoo' - Film Review

WE BOUGHT A ZOO

-film review

BY: Apoorva Joshi

After the death of his beloved wife Katherine jolts his life into a helpless, confused and grieving mass of emotions, Benjamin Mee decides to move to a new house. It is a beautiful expanse of rolling hills, fresh air, and wide open spaces – just as he had imagined. Only problem is, as the real estate agent puts it, it is complicated. It’s a zoo.

Based loosely on a non-fiction book authored by the ‘real’ Benjamin Mee, ‘We Bought A Zoo’ is a family drama that runs high on emotion. Directed by Cameron Crowe [of Jerry Maguire fame] and released on Dec. 23, 2011, the film has a runtime of 124 minutes.

An adventure-seeker and journalist, the reel Benjamin Mee is played with amazing panache by Matt Damon. Damon’s dialogues don’t come off as particularly striking but his facial expressions are convincing enough to keep the viewer seated.

In all honesty though, the film seemed to weigh heavier on the “We” than it did on the “..Bought A Zoo” part. Although it seems like the story would be about how hard it was to rebuild an entire zoo, the Rosemoor Wildlife Park, and the animals of the zoo, the film actually leaned towards portraying the human side of the experience. Emotions ran strong throughout whether it was Damon’s character and his two children coping, in their own ways, with the death of Katherine Mee, or Damon’s conversation with head zoo-keeper Kelly Foster [played by Scarlett Johansson] about resorting to euthanasia in order to put their 17-year-old tiger out of his misery.

The two young children also play an important role in shaping the flow of events. Dylan Mee [essayed by Colin Ford] gets expelled from school which sparks his dad’s spontaneous decision to move to a whole new place. The younger of the two children, Rosie Mee [essayed by Maggie Elizabeth Jones], has a warm and loving relationship with her father and is better at coping with the loss of her mother than her older brother is.

Another important family member who serves as a source of support for Benjamin is his brother Duncan Mee, an accountant, played well enough [not spectacular] by Thomas Haden Church. Duncan is basically a good guy and as he claims, he likes the animals but he loves the humans. His initial scepticism about his brother’s decision to buy a zoo eventually transforms into a strong family bond. He is seen helping around on the zoo premises while still offering a word of caution to his brother about the risk involved in this decision, not to mention the fact that this was going to cost a fortune.

And of course, the film has its villain – the evil-enough-to-throw-darts-at-his-picture government official Walter Ferris. John Michael Higgins does a good job playing this character as he measures every nook and corner of the enclosures and critiques any possible aspect of the re-modelling with the sharpest possible eye and an air of arrogance.

Despite the interesting characters and the chemistry they share in the film, the story remains predictable. A journalist, who enjoys the thrills of his job, suddenly quits that job and moves to a sprawling estate. He is not shown worrying about how he plans on schooling his children and feeding them [although the dozen lasagnes in his fridge would take care of that]. It turns into a too good to be true story with happy endings on all fronts, except the tiger who was put to sleep, but that too, ended his misery. Eventually, Rosie Mee’s not-so-heavy dialogue convinces the strict zoo inspection office, Ferris, to approve the zoo’s license. The storyline and screenplay, I think, could have used better editing.

It is admittedly a touching story about how a family moved to an entirely new place that came with its own set of thrills and complications and rose through it together, triumphantly. The real Benjamin Mee and his family run the Dartmoor Zoological Park in Devon, England and yes, their story is inspiring but if you are expecting to see some wonderful animal-human connections and chemistry in this film, you will be disappointed.

I would certainly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to understand why an actor of Matt Damon’s calibre would sign this role after being recognized for Goodwill Hunting and the Bourne series. Damon’s soulful portrayal and Scarlett Johansson’s dedicated zoo-keeper characters are the USP of the film, I would say. Another aspect of the film that I found was splendidly natural – was the background score which fit its scenes perfectly.

Finally, I think Crowe succeeds at churning up a heart-warming family drama but his film crosses the finish line only because of seasoned actors like Damon and Johansson along with some not-so-consistent spurts of excellence from the children, and the other ‘zoo staff’ cast.