Cinema for Peace Green Award for ‘The Ivory Game’
‘The Ivory Game’, a capturing feature documentary by Terra Mater Factual Studios covering the worldwide illegal trade of ivory, was yesterday awarded the Cinema for Peace International Green Award in Berlin, Germany.
Berlin/Vienna. Amidst the annual Berlinale-celebrations the Cinema for Peace gala took place: the foundation handed out its prestigious awards to films and documentaries which cast an eye on injustices and issues in society, politics or environment – and which have the potential to make changes to the current situation.
The Cinema for Peace International Green Award honoured the investigative documentary feature ‘The Ivory Game’, produced by Viennese production company Terra Mater Factual Studios. This thriller does not stray from reality: in honest, sometimes even brutal images, it portrays a nearly unseen drama happening within nature and our society: the ongoing slaughter of elephants to illegally trade their precious ivory.
„We feel incredibly honoured to receive this award“, comments CEO of Terra Mater Factual Studios and producer of the film, Walter Köhler. “Every 15 minutes, an elephant is slaughtered because of its ivory. If we continue at this speed, there will be no more free-living African elephants anymore in 15 years time. This award will surely help us in the global fight to ban the illegal ivory trade and to save the Earth’s largest living land animal. The more people know about this tragedy, the more likely it is that governments will react accordingly and stop the elephant slaughter and the ivory trade”, Köhler continues.
And reactions have already been prompted: China has already announced the official ban of ivory trade by the end of 2017.
‘The Ivory Game’ was shot in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam. It is a production of Terra Mater Film Studios with Vulcan Productions, a company of Microsoft-Co-Founder Paul Allen, and in association with Appian Way, the production company of Leonardo DiCaprio. Allen and DiCaprio act as Executive Producers for ‘The Ivory Game’.
Kenya/Amboseli elephant in action
Award-winning director Richard Ladkani and Academy Award–nominated director Kief Davidson filmed undercover for 16 months. With a crack team of intelligence operatives, undercover activists, passionate frontline rangers and tough-as-nails conservationists, they infiltrated the corrupt global network of ivory trafficking.
Global distribution rights have been exclusively obtained by Netflix. ‘The Ivory Game’ is available in 190 countries in 19 languages.
About Cinema for Peace
The Cinema for Peace gala in Berlin is today recognised as a leading film gala which brings movies and critical artists and their societal commitment into the limelight. Cinema for Peace connects the worldwide most important ambassadors of the international film and media world with highly influential personages from the fields of economy, culture and politics, to further issues such as peace and humanity and to initiate relevant projects. The Cinema for Peace jury consists of more than 130 members of the film sector, amongst them honorees, festival directors, journalists and members of the Golden Globes and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (Oscars).
