The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the world premiere of Kathryn Bigelow’s PSA Last Days followed by a panel to be presented on Saturday, September 27 at 6PM at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Bigelow will moderate the panel, The Crisis in Elephant Poaching, with participants Peter Knights, Julieta V. Lozano, K’naan Warsame, and Peter Godwin. Tickets for the event are free and will be distributed one hour prior to the start time; visit filmlinc.com/nyff for more information.
Director of the New York Film Festival Kent Jones said, “Kathryn showed us Last Days and I was floored—in three minutes, the viewer feels the horrors of elephant poaching on a global scale and gains a clear, even vivid understanding of the economic, moral and political issues involved. A powerfully concise piece of work, and we’re proud to be hosting its world premiere and providing a forum in which this urgent issue can be illuminated.”
On the origins of the project, Bigelow said, “A year ago I had a fortuitous meeting with both Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. Chelsea had just returned from Sub-Saharan Africa where poachers killed herds of elephants by cyanide poisoning. After our conversation I felt compelled to enter this space, encourage a dialogue, raise awareness. Killing for ivory by organized syndicates was now being carried out on an industrialized scale. Working with the writer, Scott Z. Burns, we set out to connect the dots between ivory trinkets purchased at markets in China and elsewhere and the terrorist nightmares we see on the nightly news.”
In 1989, the international trade in ivory was banned, but the slaughter of African elephants has actually escalated in recent years: between 2010 and 2012, 100,000 elephants were killed. Only 400,000 are left. The coalition of independent organizations that has joined in a common effort to put an end to elephant poaching takes a three-pronged approach, calling for an end to the killings, an end to trafficking in ivory, and an end to the demand for ivory. Kathryn Bigelow’s three-minute film, made in collaboration with concept designer Samuel Michlap, head of layout Lorenzo Martinez, and Duncan Studio, takes us, in reverse chronology, through every step in the blood-curdling process, and, at its most disturbing, identifies the sale of ivory as a funding source for terrorist organizations like Boko Haram, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and al-Shabab. Last Days will be presented twice, followed by a panel discussion moderated by the filmmaker. The event is free to the public and tickets will be available at the box office an hour prior to the start time at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street.
Peter Knights
Peter Knights has been Executive Director of WildAid since its founding in 2000. He initiated the Marine Protection Program and currently leads the Demand Reduction Program for shark fin, manta ray gill rakers, ivory, and rhino horn. He was formerly a program director working on illegal wildlife trade with Global Survival Network and a senior investigator for the Environmental Investigation Agency. He specialized in conducting global on-site investigations and campaigned against the trade in wild birds for pets and the consumption of endangered species in traditional Chinese medicine, such as bear gallbladder, rhino horn, and tiger bone.
Julieta V. Lozano
Julieta V. Lozano has been a prosecutor in New York State for over 16 years. She currently serves as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, where she handles complex white-collar criminal matters and specializes in environmental crimes. She recently conducted a large-scale investigation into multiple New York City ivory dealers, involving the seizure of nearly a ton of ivory valued at over $2 million, and resulting in felony convictions. She previously served as Chief of the Environmental Crimes Unit for the New York State Attorney General’s Office and as Assistant Secretary for the Environment under Governor Eliot Spitzer.
The New York County District Attorney’s successful prosecutions of ivory dealers provided momentum and support to a statewide effort to strengthen laws prohibiting the sale of elephant ivory. This summer, New York State enacted a bill effectively banning the sale of ivory and increasing criminal and civil penalties for the sale of ivory. The new law is dedicated in honor of Lt. John Fitzpatrick, a long-time Environmental Conservation Officer for DEC, who spearheaded investigations of illegal ivory sales, helped to institute new ivory permit procedures and raised awareness of the need to improve endangered species protections.
Peter Godwin
Peter Godwin is an award-winning foreign correspondent, author, documentary-maker, and screenwriter. After practicing human rights law in Zimbabwe, he became a foreign and war correspondent, and has reported from over 60 countries about wars in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Somalia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir, as well as the last years of apartheid South Africa.
K’naan Warsame
K’naan Warsame is a Somali Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter, and human rights activist. K’naan spoke before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1999, where he performed a spoken-word piece criticizing the UN for its failed aid missions to Somalia.
The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Kent Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Marian Masone, FSLC Senior Programming Advisor; Gavin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound.
Tickets for the upcoming New York Film Festival range in price from $15 & $25 for most screenings to $50 & $100 for Gala evenings. Film Society members receive a discount on tickets as well as the benefit of a pre-sale opportunity.
For NYFF Free events: Starting one hour before the scheduled time of the event, complimentary tickets will be distributed from the box office corresponding to the event’s venue. Limit one ticket per person, on a space-available basis. Please note that the line for tickets may form in advance of the time of distribution.
Please note: All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges. Tickets are subject to availability. Programs and prices are subject to change.
Visit filmlinc.com for more information. The updated NYFF App is available for download on iOS and Android.
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