Kifaru

Kifaru

Directed by David Hambridge
Kenya, U.S. | 2019 | Documentary
81 minutes | English & Swahili

A distressing account of extinction in real time, “Kifaru” follows the lives of two young Kenyan recruits who join Ol Pejeta Conservancy's rhino-caretaker unit, a small group of rangers that care for and protect Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros — or kifaru, in Swahili. Although Sudan is quite old, the team zealously protects him and the two remaining female northern white rhinos from poachers, with the faint hope that science can somehow find a means to save the species. The rangers have made their mission personal, treating the rhinos as immense pets — running and playing with them, rubbing them with mud, fretting when they become sick. But their devotion comes at a cost: One of the rangers, JoJo, clearly loves Sudan and the others but is torn because the job requires his absence from his family for 10 months at a time. Offering a privileged view through the eyes of the recruits, “Kifaru” spans the caretakers’ first four years on the job and provides firsthand experience of the joys and pitfalls of conservation.

Shown with

Mointal Ranger

16 minutes
Chinese
Ansiqi Li
2019

The story of a ranger who guards the forest in the frontier of China and Kazakhstan.

China
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