What: When Elephants Were Young
Where: Cinecenta, University of Victoria, Student Union Building
When: Saturday, 7 and 9:15 p.m.
Info: cinecenta.com
After years of making films that focus on the relationships between wildlife and humans in exotic habitats on land and water, Patricia Sims is no stranger to globetrotting.
The Victoria filmmaker and conservationist in 2012 co-founded World Elephant Day, an awareness campaign managed by the non-profit World Elephant Society.
Inspired by her feature-length documentary When Elephants Were Young, the campaign draws worldwide attention to a growing crisis — the threat of extinction of wild elephants because of poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflicts and the illicit trade in wildlife products such as ivory.
Made in Thailand with cinematographer, editor and music supervisor Michael Clark, When Elephants Were Young documents the plight of endangered Asian elephants. Narrated by elephant conservation advocate William Shatner, the film tells the story of the bond between a young Bangkok street beggar and his elephant.
With the sixth annual World Elephant Day set for Saturday, however, Sims said she’s happy to be able to monitor its global progress from home.
“This year, I found I really wanted to be at home base,” said Sims, who will appear with Clark for a Q&A following a screening of their film on Saturday at 7 and 9:15 p.m. at Cinecenta.
“It’s nice to be home and being here is great because we’re one of the last time zones for World Elephant Day as it rolls out across the planet.”
Sims said our time zone is next to that of Hawaii, which she notes is very active with elephant conservation initiatives, including a ban on ivory.
“We’ll be at the tail end of the 24-hour clock because the Pacific Time Zone is one of the last,” said Sims, whose team was in New York on Aug. 3 for the campaign’s symbolic countdown kickoff event.
In conjunction with the Wildlife Conservation Society, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation crushed nearly two tons of ivory during a high-profile public demonstration that day.
“The ivory was valued at $8 million US, but our message was that ivory has no value except on an elephant,” said Sims. “That was the theme of the day.”
Each year, 33,000 African elephants are slaughtered to supply the illegal ivory trade. There are only an estimated 40,000 Asian elephants left in the world, according to World Elephant Day campaign figures.
Proceeds from Saturday’s screening will support the campaign, which has also launched a campaign to encourage the public to “be elephant ethical.”
That includes not buying ivory or other wildlife products, boycotting organizations that exploit or abuse animals for entertainment, and supporting organizations that follow ethical elephant tourism guidelines.
“What I find incredible is how much this has grown and taken on a life of its own,” said Sims.
Meanwhile, Vancouver-based streaming service The Green Channel (thegreenchannel.tv) has re-released Return to the Forest, Sims’ and Clark’s award-winning “prologue” to their feature-length documentary.
For more information on World Elephant Day visit worldelephantday.org.
