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TO SKIN A CAT

Film Info

​75 minutes
Scholars & Gentlemen, Panthera, Earth Touch, andBeyond, Durban Film Office, National Film & Video Foundation, Peace Parks Foundation
Available for Ticketed events ONLY
Synopsis:
SAFTA-award-winning film about a man aiming to halt the alarming decline in southern Africa’s leopard populations due to a widespread skin trade. Traditionally only Zulu royals have been allowed to wear leopard skins, however the Shembe Church, a four million strong religious group, has adopted the skins into their ceremonial outfit. The demand for leopard skins is now unsustainable, law enforcement is helpless to police this trade and so Panthera’s Tristan Dickerson travels from the heart of the African bush to the centre of Shembe and Zulu culture and beyond to China, seeking a solution benefitting all parties.

Action Items 

  • Keep up with Panthera's work at www.panthera.org and https://www.panthera.org/furs-for-life.
  • Learn more about leopard conservation at https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/leopard and www.wessa.org.za

Filmmaker Q&A

What inspired this story?
I visited a Shembe gathering years ago. I was appalled by the number of leopard skins being worn by dancers. At the same time, I was both intrigued and moved by the beautiful sense of meaning within the ritual. I think the film was inspired by tension between those two contrasting experiences of the same event.

Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film.
Our biggest challenge was coming up with a solution that worked for both the conservation bodies and the Shembe Church. Building an open line of communication between ourselves and the Church was a difficult process.

How do you approach storytelling?
We realize people aren’t going to watch something just because it’s an important or critical issue. They need to be entertained. And to do that we needed to have character development and narrative arcs, but within the restraints of a real life story, the pace and direction of which we couldn’t dictate. We learnt that sometimes you need to push in a certain direction as a story teller and other times you simply have to wait for the story to evolve of it’s own accord.

What impact do you hope this film will have?
Our goal has been to protect leopards, primarily from people not knowing or understanding the threats they face, and to use entertainment as a way of doing that.
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  • Home
  • About
    • Get Involved >
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      • Volunteer
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  • Summit
    • 2022 Summit >
      • Summit Photos
      • Program & Schedule
      • Transportation >
        • Airport Transportation
      • Speakers
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      • About Burgenland
    • Summit Archive >
      • 2021 Summit >
        • 2021 Summit Sessions
        • Program & Schedule 2021
        • Speakers
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      • 2020 Virtual Summit >
        • Speakers 2020
        • 2020 Partners
      • 2019 Summit >
        • 2019 Program & Schedule
        • 2019 Session Recordings
        • 2019 Programming
        • 2019 Exhibitors >
          • Exhibitor Workshops
          • XR Demos
        • 2019 Partners
      • 2017 Festival & Summit
      • 2015 Festival & Summit
      • 2013 Festival & Summit
  • Awards
    • Media Awards >
      • 2022 Media Awards
      • 2021 Media Awards
      • 2020 Media Awards
      • 2019 Media Awards >
        • 2019 Judges
      • Media Awards Archive
    • Special Jury Recognitions >
      • 2022 Special Jury
      • 2021 Special Jury
    • World Wildlife Day Film Showcase >
      • Conservation Heroes
      • Recovering Species
      • Forests
      • Biodiversity >
        • Biodiversity: Final Jury
      • Living Oceans >
        • Ocean Finalists & Winners
        • Living Oceans Final Jury
      • Big Cats
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    • Legacy Award
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    • On Tour >
      • Films
      • Schedule
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      • Tour FAQ
  • Frontiers
    • Media Lab >
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        • 2021 Media Lab Fellows
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        • 2021 Media Lab Mentors
      • 2020 Media Lab >
        • 2020 Media Lab Fellows
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      • 2019 Media Lab >
        • 2019 Media Lab Fellows
    • Summit Fellowship >
      • 2022 Summit Fellows
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      • 2019 Summit Fellows
    • Cinematography Lab
    • Partner Labs >
      • African Conservation Voices >
        • Kenya
        • Rwanda
      • 2020 Wild Women Media Lab: Africa
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  • Collective
    • Narration Writing Masterclass
    • Action Coalitions >
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      • 2020 Action Coalitions
    • Gear Hub
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  • Blog