I went into this film not knowing much about giraffes at all — and this only made me want to learn more.
Written by Andie Kaiser
“It’s hard to imagine a world without them, but soon, we may have no choice”
Cathy Ellington’s short documentary offers a really interesting (and illuminating, for those who might not know much about this issue) glimpse into the population crisis facing giraffes. At just under half an hour, there’s enough time to cover the basics of this topic and delve into a few of the community-led conservation efforts working to prevent the extinction of the world’s tallest animals.
Like many other endangered species, human activity plays the largest role. Poaching is the biggest factor contributing to giraffe population decline, but other things like general habitat loss and a growing lack of natural resources has also added to the problem. The film provides some statistics that I certainly wasn’t aware of previously: giraffe populations have fallen by 40% in the last 30 years, and in seven countries in Africa they have gone extinct.
The film does a good job of presenting this information in a clear, accessible way for viewers. Voiceover provides much of the commentary while we watch some beautiful (though also sometimes upsetting) footage of giraffes in the wild. Interspersed are conversations and other moments spent with those on the ground, and it’s great to hear from the people doing the day-to-day work of helping these animals out of dangerous situations.
One of these efforts addresses the issue of giraffes becoming stuck in fences that have been constructed around areas they call home. Watching teams run alongside the giraffes, guiding them to pass through gaps that have been created for them in the fences, was really quite incredible. The imagery of these tall animals trying to navigate this dangerous terrain, while being supported by people below, made for some amazing moments in the film.
One of my favourite parts of the documentary was a section that showed one of the initiatives being implemented to address illegal trafficking of giraffe parts. The non-profit organization APOPO deploys their trained "HeroRATs" to detect giraffe parts that are being sent at airports. They also work to detect other materials, such as ivory, that are being smuggled. The documentary showed them working at an airport in Tanzania to detect giraffe parts, and seeing these tiny animals do this job can’t help but make you smile. When they detect something, the rats pull on a bell attached to their harness, which makes a beeping sound for the trainers. If this detection is correct, the rat will get a reward of a peanut butter smoothie, fed through a tiny syringe. It’s a more upbeat moment in the documentary, which I found to be quite fun.
I went into this film not knowing much about giraffes at all — and this only made me want to learn more. The filmmakers do a great job of capturing the gentle spirit of these animals, while not shying away from the reality that currently exists for them.
Overlooked: A Silent Extinction was screened as part of the 11th Femme Filmmakers Festival.
"The Femme Filmmakers Festival was conceived out of sheer human nature. Or at least, the kind of passion for a greater awareness of the female filmmakers that also reside on this planet. As Filmotomy has always striven to shine lights on the corners of the film world that simply don’t get the attention like the bigger guns do, setting up an exclusive event to celebrate these women and their movies seemed inevitable."
Learn more about Filmotomy and the Femme Filmmakers Festival here!
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