Poaching in the Spotlight: New Conservation Films at Silwerskerm Festival

New takes on the natural environment hit the big screen at the 13th Silwerskerm Film Festival from August 20 to 23 in Cape Town. Included in the lineup is the short film, The Last Ranger, and a mini documentary about the large-scale poaching of South Africa’s endemic succulents.

The latter focuses on botanist Pieter van Wyk and his fight against large-scale poaching and smuggling of South Africa’s endemic succulents. Made in Afrikaans, it is titled “Vet vannie land (Fat of the land)” and was directed by Karl Raubenheimer and Danielle McDonald. 

The mini documentary came about during their work on a YouTube series about South Africa’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Their paths crossed with that of Pieter at the Richtersveld Transfrontier Park.

Pieter collaborates with various universities and has been recognised locally and internationally for his contribution to conservation. CNN dubbed him “the plant herder” and, most recently, in 2023, he was the recipient of the International Future for Nature Award from the Netherlands-based Future for Nature Foundation.

Poaching is also the topic of The Last Ranger, a fictional tale told on the backdrop of rhino poaching and conservation efforts at the Amakhala Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

It premiered in January last year and has gone on to win several awards, including a nomination for Best Live Action Short Film at the Academy Awards.

It joins several environment-focused films and documentaries screened at the Silwerskermfees over the years. Among them, By die soutwater, which last year highlighted the work of the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation in the harbour area around the V&A Waterfront itself.

For more information, including the schedule of when this year’s films will be screened, visit www.silwerskermfees.co.za

See the trailer for Vet vannie land, here:

See the trailer for The Last Ranger, here: