|
|
Dear Mr President
The Great Apes Film Initiative ( www.gafi4apes.org) has taken Patrick Rouxel's film 'Losing Tomorrow' on Roadshows throughout SE Asia to create awareness of deforestation, palm oil plantations and support local solutions. 'Dear Mr President' was created at the request of local communities who wanted to present the issues to their President. |
Latest
News:
|
 Wildlife
documentaries are by their very subject matter, made around the world
and many of them involve animals and habitats which are becoming increasingly
rare. It has been one of the most frustrating aspects of programme making
for many wildlife documentary producers that we can make programmes
about these endangered animals but they are rarely seen by the very
people who need to see them - the decision makers in those countries
and the locals who live in those environments.
The Great
Apes Film Initiative, (GAFI) created by Madelaine Westwood
in collaboration with Filmmakers For Conservation and GRASP, has entailed
the donating of award-winning films by BBC Worldwide and Granada International
to be given to African, Malaysian and Indonesian countries who cannot
afford to pay for them and are struggling to keep great apes alive for
future generations.
 It
is a sad fact that estimates for the survival of primates in the world
is approximately 15 years, can you imagine a world without gorillas,
orangutans, chimps and bonobos. It is unthinkable but it will definitely
happen unless we take action now. Nutshell Productions has provided
the services of Madelaine for seven months to create the Great Apes
Film Initiative, enrol broadcasters to donate films, liase with African
broadcasters and ministers to have the films broadcast nationally, link
to Non Government Organisations (NGOs) and their educational outreach
work, and establish the legal and logistical framework for 'GAFI'.
 It
has been a huge task, but already the first successes are coming in,
GAFI had its first films broadcast in Congo, with the Minister for Environment
accepting the films in person and signing the contracts at the Heads
of State Summit for seven African Nations which had conservation as
its top priority. The same films were also given to Cameroon for broadcast
and to Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon for showing to school children
, they were then used for outreach in the surrounding areas to tackle
the bushmeat crisis.
The majority of
the photos on this site are © www.PhotoIanRedmond.co.uk
|
