Evento

NYWCFF - Series 2: Big Cats

Series 2 9:00-11:00 PM
Theme: Big Cats

The Lion Tree
Ralph Stutchbury, Camera Africa Productions
50 minutes
Country: Zimbabwe
* World Premiere
*** Award Winner for Best Ecosytem/Habitat Category

A giant wild Fig tree stands at the centre of a remote flood plain in North Western Zambia. It marks the territory of a pride of Lions who have thrived here for years. Without warning or explanation, the pride male has vanished, leaving five females and their cubs to cope alone. Sooner or later, other Lions will challenge them for this prime territory with its abundant food and water.

Tragedy and drama envelop the lives of the Fig Tree pride as they fight for survival. The Alpha female must guide her sisters and the cubs through treacherous times as two very different competing males attempt to take over the pride. The story unfolds against a backdrop of spectacular African scenery.

Removed
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
25 minutes
* World Premiere
** Award Winner for Best Foundation Category

Big cat possession and breeding is at epidemic proportions in the United States. It is estimated there may be 20,000 big cats in private ownership. These beautiful animals are often kept in squalid conditions and dangerously close to residential areas. Removed tells the story of Java, Bali and Titan, as well as the people that care for beautiful, yet discarded creatures, all the while shedding light on the little known world of captive tigers in North America. Each rescued from tough situations, these three tigers find sanctuary at Wild Animal Orphanage (WOA) in Texas and form a bond. Hard economic times forces WOA to close and these tigers once again need to find a home.

Since 2003 IFAW has rescued over 100 big cats in the United States. A growing animal welfare and public safety issue, IFAW is pushing for legislation to ban the private ownership and breeding of big cats in the country and politicians are helping.

My Pantanal
Panthera
10 minutes
Country: Brazil
* New York City Premiere
** Appropriate for children

"My Pantanal" is a film about a boy named Aerenilso who lives on a ranch in the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland located in Brazil. Aerenilso show us what it is like to be a Pantanero (cowboy), riding his horse and exploring this incredible landscape that is teeming with wildlife, including the jaguar. Aerenilso lives on a conservation ranch where the cowboys and biologists are working together to show that ranching and jaguars can co-exist in the Pantanal.

Broken Tail: A Tiger's Last Journey
Fred Kaufman & Janet Hess, Producers
NATURE
55 minutes
* New York Premiere
** Award Winner for Best Endangered Species Category

Irish wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson and local guide Salim Ali spent 600 days in Ranthambhore National Park, India's premier tiger reserve, following Broken Tail and his family, filming him day after day until he was about two-and-a-half years old. They came to know the exuberant, charismatic young tiger well and to care deeply about his welfare. And then one day he simply vanished without a trace, until a year later when they learned his terrible fate. Broken Tail was killed by a train more than 100 miles from his home, having made an unprecedented trek across unprotected countryside. This is the story of their attempt to learn why he left, where he went, and if anyone had seen him along the way, hoping that the answers to their questions would honor his memory and also prove useful to tiger conservation in India.

* Q & A with Andrea Heydlauff, Vice President and Jennifer Shepherd of PANTHERA