The Wildlife Conservation Film Festival has announced in New York that the film
Horn, directed by South African filmmaker Dr Reina-Marie Loader, has
won the 2015 award for Best Conservation Film. The award will be presented at a
ceremony on 23 October 2015. Dr Loader will also speak at the parallel Biodiversity
Conference in New York.
Horn is a film about the usually neglected social side of rhino
poaching. It highlights the social causes that drive people to poaching and shows
that the conservation of rhinos can be a problem solver for disadvantaged
communities.
A novel feature is that the film is a “lived documentary’, in which an actor is put into
the real situation and required to take part in actual anti-poaching activities, so that
a creative investigation can maintain authenticity.
South African born filmmaker, Dr Loader, runs her company Cinema Humain in
Vienna. She concentrates on socially relevant filmmaking involving human rights,
conservation issues and how these are interwoven. She has won several film
awards and nominations at festivals in the United States, Great Britain and South
Africa. “I am really thrilled about this! Being awarded Best Conservation Film at an
international conservation film festival shows that the message of
Horn is getting heard. While I am in NYC next month, I will surely
speak up loudly for our rhinos – and our people!’ said Loader.
The cinematography of the film is done by David Cawley and the participant actor is
Jeffrey Mundell. The music for the film was specially composed and recorded by the
Viennese group Judo Push.
