Five Questions for Filmmakers: Born in China

​We reached out to our festival filmmakers to ask them questions about the experience of making their films.

Born in China- Finalist Trailer from Jackson Hole WILD on Vimeo.

What inspired this story?    

The immense size and scale of China and its vast diversity of wildlife...imagine following the lives of several iconic Chinese animals as they each give birth.

​Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film.

​We faced a huge array of challenges – from working with a Chinese director with little personal experience or knowledge of wildlife…to getting permits to film rare animals in an array of impenetrable habitats…to producing our first feature film in a foreign language! A long list of unprecedented challenges for us.

Photo courtesy of Born in China

Photo courtesy of Born in China

How do you approach storytelling?     

Always: chose your subject carefully. Do your research thoroughly. Chose the best cameramen to film your story… Watch what happens!

What impact do you hope this film will have?   
 
​We hope that Born in China will inspire the Chinese people to love and respect their wildlife enough to protect it.

Photo courtesy of Born in China

Anything else you would like people to know?     

We were honored to work with some of the world’s best cameramen, including Shane Moore (from Jackson, Wyoming) who faced the enormous challenge of filming an elusive and magical cat – (the snow leopard) - in a vast mountain-scape… A feline needle in a Himalayan-sized haystack. Would he find the snow leopards, let alone be able to film them? In the end, we managed to obtain the very first images of a snow leopard family in its natural setting.

​What next?
​
We’d love to film another Disneynature story!