"STROOP - Journey into the Rhino Horn War", the South African made documentary film continues to impress and make waves internationally, with its acceptance into no less than four more major US film festivals!
Coming hot on the heels of the announcement that "STROOP" has been awarded the 2018 Green Tenacity Award by the judges of the Eighth Annual San Francisco Green Film Festival ahead of the film's world premiere at that festival (September 6 – 14), comes the news that this powerful, hard-hitting film will be shown at four more US festivals in the coming months including:
The Santa Cruz Film Festival (October 3 - 7). Since it was founded in 2001 more than 100 000 film lovers and filmmakers from all over the world have come to Santa Cruz for the festival.
In 2008, the SCFF brought the EarthVision International Environmental Film Festival under its wing and since then has presented nearly 70 environmental films that raise awareness of critical environmental issues, explore people who pursue environmental justice and mobilise support and action for environmental issues.
The Glendale International Film Festival (October 5 - 12), held in Los Angeles, California and which has as its theme this year Bringing The World Together As One. Sixty-three fiction and 63 documentaries (short and feature length) will make up the programme for this festival.
The San Diego International Film Festival (October 10 - 14), where previous premieres have been big Hollywood movies such as Lion, Silver Linings Playbook and 12 Years a Slave). The organisers for this event chose only 13 feature-length documentaries from around the world and have allocated STROOP two screenings - a rare occurrence for this festival.
The St Louis International Film Festival (November 1-11), where last year they screened nearly 400 films from more than 60 countries, including Oscar contenders such as The Call Me by Your Name, Darkest Hour and Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.
Says producer and presenter Bonné de Bod: "We are delighted at the favourable reception our film is getting overseas and the number of invitations we are receiving to show the film at various festivals. It is important that as many people as possible see this film to increase the awareness around the dire situation of rhino poaching and the dangerously low numbers of rhino still left in the wild."
"STROOP - Journey into the Rhino Horn War" tells the shocking and touching story of the ongoing poaching of rhino and the trade in its coveted horn. Four years in the making, this labour of love has seen filmmakers de Bod and director Susan Scott sell their houses, leave their jobs and move in with their mothers in order to document what is happening in the fight to save this animal from almost certain extinction.
Initially setting out on a six-month project it became a dangerous and intense expedition for which the passionate duo often found themselves in immense danger.
In an exclusive first, de Bod and Scott filmed special ranger units inside the Kruger National Park and at the home of the white rhino, the Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park.
The pair also travelled undercover to the dangerous back rooms of wildlife traffickers and dealers in China and Vietnam. The result is a powerful, hard-hitting and incredibly moving documentary that will challenge and shock viewers.
Through unprecedented footage, Scott and De Bod have created a stunning, independent film - made with crowdfunding and grants - that shows why this hunted and targeted species deserves to live in dignity, free from exploitation by illegal traders, poachers, money men and corrupt governments.
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