Explorers Club Special Preview Screening of "TIGERLAND"

post-screening Q&A with Ross KaufmannTigers are the subject of myths and folktales, poetry and art. Half a century ago, in the jungles of India, a young forest officer rallied the world to save tigers from extinction. Today, the creed is carried on in Far East Russia by the guardians of the last Siberian tigers, who risk everything to save the species. Directed by Academy®-Award winning filmmaker Ross Kauffman (“Born into Brothels,”) and produced by Oscar® winner Fisher Stevens (“The Cove”), Tigerland is the story about our relationship with one of the world’s most revered creatures. 
Often referred to as “Tiger Man,” Kailash Sankhala spent the second half of the 20th Century trying to raise national and global awareness about the dwindling numbers of tigers in and around his native India. Tigerland revisits his story, often as seen through the eyes of his grandson, Amit, a conservationist who has taken up Kailash’s mission; and Jai Bhati, Amit’s nephew and Sankhala’s great-grandson, a pre-teen who spends his spare time in the forests that his forefather felt called to protect. The film also follows Russian-born Pavel Fomenko, who has been working for the past two decades to save the Amur (“Siberian”) tiger in the Russian Far East. Here, a thriving population that dates back centuries has also been reduced to a critical few hundred due to a rise in illegal poaching since the USSR broke apart. A lifelong hunter in his Russian homeland, Fomenko explains how “only a hunter understands how much he is losing from losing the wild nature. One day he returns and the forest is no longer there.” Now, Fomenko embarks on dangerous missions to humanely capture, tag, and release tigers who roam out of their protected areas, to better protect and restore the species. 
Runtime: 97 mins.Director Ross Kaufmann will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening.Tigerland premieres March 30 on Discovery in U.S and in other countries around the world.
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