Leading travel and outdoor brand Craghoppers is pleased to announce that it has won the award for ‘Best Short Film’ at this year’s Wildlife Conservation Film Festival.
With more than 175 films entered into the ‘Short Film’ category, Craghoppers’ ‘Hope’, which revisits the mountain gorillas at the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, nearly 47 years after Dian Fossey began her work in the region, was chosen top in the category.
Taking place in New York from 13th-19th October, the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (WCFF) looks to inform, engage and inspire audiences about the need to protect global biodiversity by producing signature events that screen the finest independent films from around the world, covering topics across the fields of natural history and the conservation of biodiversity. The WCFF New York Festival attracts over 4,000 attendees from the conservation, education, wildlife film and travel industries.
Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, Craghoppers’ ‘Hope’ gives exclusive access to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Karisoke Research Center. It takes a historical look back to 1967 when Dian Fossey began her work and gives new meaning to the term conservation as it explores the extreme, intensive and sometimes-dangerous methods employed to protect the great apes.
Produced by Craghoppers and award-winning filmmaker Pete Mcbride, the 15-minute documentary aims to send out a clear message to the world – we must support the people protecting the mountain gorillas – they are the gorillas’ only hope of survival.
Managing Director for Craghoppers, Jim McNamara, said: “Our motivation behind making ‘Hope’ was to highlight the extreme efforts adopted by the Dian Fossey Fund to protect the mountain gorillas in Rwanda and the sometimes dangerous challenges the team face every day. It’s therefore a great feeling to know that a film that was designed to inspire and remind people about the plight of the gorillas has done just that in wider industry.
“I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved with this documentary. Winning this award is a not only a great achievement for Craghoppers and the team who produced ‘Hope’, but also for the Dian Fossey Fund, as the film will get in front of an even greater audience and will hopefully urge people to support the charity and donate to a very worthy cause.”
‘Hope’, which was premiered in April this year, is available to view online at www.craghoppers.com and Craghoppers is encouraging as many people as possible to view, share and comment on the documentary via social media to help raise awareness.
To find out more about Wildlife Conservation Film Festival please visit www.wcff.org .
To purchase tickets please visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/766091.
