Film Info53 minutes
Terra Mater Factual Studios and Wildlife Films Available for Free screenings ONLY Synopsis: For thousands of years, Kenya's Maasai people had an ancient ritual: to prove their skills and courage, young men ventured out into the Savannah to find and kill a lion... But due to habitat loss, poaching and hunting, today there only 20,000 lions left in Africa. As a means to stop the falling lion numbers, the Maasai decided to change their culture: instead of killing lions, the young men now compete in a different physical test: athletics. In 2008, the Maasai Olympics were founded, taking place in Kenya biannually. This way, bravery can still be expressed; while the lion may continue to roam the African savannahs... Action Items
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Filmmaker Q&A
What inspired this story?
As conservationists we have struggled with how we approach the Maasai about the killing of lions and then in a series of meetings the elders asked what other young men do. We said athletics and sport, and within a short time, the Maasai Olympic was born as a conservation effort to redirect the ambitions of young men to complete away from killing lions.
Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film.
Well, we aren’t used to doing a sports films. So we didn’t. We rolled back the story to why there is conflict and why there was even a need for the event. As a result we were almost working retrospectively. All of this hinges on warriors killing lions and we were not prepared to even express an interest in filming that because just the idea of it would have resulted in a speared lion. So we needed to be extrmeley careful ethically.
How do you approach storytelling?
We have different approaches. For me it starts with an image in my head that I can’t shake. It is almost like an obsession obviously based on the premise but it is seeded by a single iconic image of the film.
What impact do you hope this film will have?
We hope that it will be taken in to the villages and manyattas of Maasai and shown as a starting point to a conversations about the new way for all of us, not just Maasai to engage with Nature.
Anything else you would like people to know?
Until we engage with communities on this level, either as equals or as people we want o learn from and celebrate them, we will always have two versions of conservation, ‘theirs’ and ‘ours’ and that fact alone is a formula for extinction.
What do you see as the impact of the individual, group or movement featured in the film? What real tangible impact do you hope to achieve?
The Maasai as seen and see themselves as custodians of the world’s cattle. Cattle will soon become the central conversation in the future of big cats around the world. There are only a million or so Maasai and already I am seeing some of them talking about themselves as custodians of the wild. This iconic culture is inextricably linked to nature already and if they can step out as protectors of it, instead of in conflict with it, we could find in them a force that could change the world.
As conservationists we have struggled with how we approach the Maasai about the killing of lions and then in a series of meetings the elders asked what other young men do. We said athletics and sport, and within a short time, the Maasai Olympic was born as a conservation effort to redirect the ambitions of young men to complete away from killing lions.
Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film.
Well, we aren’t used to doing a sports films. So we didn’t. We rolled back the story to why there is conflict and why there was even a need for the event. As a result we were almost working retrospectively. All of this hinges on warriors killing lions and we were not prepared to even express an interest in filming that because just the idea of it would have resulted in a speared lion. So we needed to be extrmeley careful ethically.
How do you approach storytelling?
We have different approaches. For me it starts with an image in my head that I can’t shake. It is almost like an obsession obviously based on the premise but it is seeded by a single iconic image of the film.
What impact do you hope this film will have?
We hope that it will be taken in to the villages and manyattas of Maasai and shown as a starting point to a conversations about the new way for all of us, not just Maasai to engage with Nature.
Anything else you would like people to know?
Until we engage with communities on this level, either as equals or as people we want o learn from and celebrate them, we will always have two versions of conservation, ‘theirs’ and ‘ours’ and that fact alone is a formula for extinction.
What do you see as the impact of the individual, group or movement featured in the film? What real tangible impact do you hope to achieve?
The Maasai as seen and see themselves as custodians of the world’s cattle. Cattle will soon become the central conversation in the future of big cats around the world. There are only a million or so Maasai and already I am seeing some of them talking about themselves as custodians of the wild. This iconic culture is inextricably linked to nature already and if they can step out as protectors of it, instead of in conflict with it, we could find in them a force that could change the world.
