People and Nature<\/a>, shows that 86.7% of community viewers (aged 16-85)\u00a0 who saw \u2018The Elephant Queen\u2019 felt the film changed their attitudes towards elephants. On average 79% of viewers believed the film would change their interactions with elephants in the future. 88.4% of viewers felt the film could change their whole community\u2019s relationship with elephants.<\/p>\nThe film also appears to have had a positive influence on younger generations, particularly among Kenyan students.\u00a0 Students aged between 16-18 surveyed said they gained knowledge and affection towards elephants and felt the benefits of elephants more keenly after viewing \u2018The Elephant Queen\u2019. This suggests that continued exposure to educational content like \u2018The Elephant Queen\u2019 could foster a more positive outlook on elephants among Kenyan youth.<\/p>\n
Human-elephant conflict (HEC) is an increasing problem in rural Africa as elephants and humans compete for resources, resulting in crop damage and loss of life.\u00a0\u00a0As a result, local communities often encounter elephants through intense or violent interactions, lacking awareness of the positive contributions these animals offer and rarely witnessing their natural behavior in the wild.\u00a0 Films like \u2018The Elephant Queen\u2019 have the potential to alter this narrative.<\/p>\n
\u2018The Elephant Queen\u2019\u00a0 follows the lives of a Tsavo elephant herd\u00a0 \u2013 led by the matriarch Athena \u2013\u00a0 their quest for water, and the extensive journeys they undertake for survival during droughts, emphasizing their role as environmental architects crucial to numerous other species.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Following global screenings and multiple international awards, the filmmakers had the script translated into Kiswahili and Maa (the language of the Maasai and Samburu tribes), and began touring Kenya as a mobile cinema to provide rural communities with insights into the true nature of elephants. The film was shown on large inflatable screens erected in local communities \u2013 at schools, in marketplaces and other public areas. Within two years, the Elephant Queen Outreach programme visited nearly 300 schools, over 200 villages, and engaged with more than 135,000 people.<\/p>\n
As part of\u00a0\u2018The Elephant Queen\u2019\u00a0Outreach Programme (Exec dir. Victoria Stone and Directors, Etienne Oliff and Mark Deeble), surveys were conducted before and after the screenings, coupled with interviews from key community figures. The\u00a0surveys took place between November 2021 and\u00a0 June 2022 and targeted communities surrounding national parks and known to suffer from high levels of human-elephant conflict.\u00a0 A total of 1187 men and women from Tsavo, Arubuko and Amboseli were surveyed including 545 adults and 642 students. Their ages ranged from 16-28 years, 29-41 years, 42-54 years and 55 and above.<\/p>\n
Results from Save the Elephants\u2019 study show that while adults gained knowledge and recognized the benefits of elephants, they also felt the challenges of living with elephants more profoundly after viewing \u2018The Elephant Queen\u2019.\u00a0Of the 36.2% of community viewers and 47.6% of school viewers who became concerned about\u00a0losing elephants after watching \u2018The Elephant Queen\u2019. Drought was mostly to blame for this concern (85.9%), followed by poaching (7.8%) and \u2018not being cared for\u2019 (6.3%).<\/p>\n
A follow-up survey three months later revealed that although the initial impact on adults had subsided, there was a delayed increase in their affection for elephants. This shift in attitude could be\u00a0 attributed to ongoing discussions among both young and old community members,\u00a0 following their exposure to \u2018The Elephant Queen.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lead author, Dr Harry Fonseca Williams says,\u00a0\u201cThere are few things more epic than watching communities who have never been to the cinema watch a 10 meter inflatable cinema expand\u00a0 before their eyes. The fact that such activities also have a role in inspiring the youth and educating adults is even more exciting.\u00a0 While films alone obviously can\u2019t resolve such a complex form of conflict, they can certainly begin to open hearts to nature and provide awareness of the ecological benefits elephants provide. Beyond entertainment, films act as vehicles for storytelling and facilitate dialogue, allowing for community voices to resonate in the larger conversation about conservation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nSenior author, Dr Diogo Verrisimo says ,\u00a0\u201cIt is key to understand how media shapes our attitudes to the natural world if we are to use it to boost conservation efforts. Documentaries and more broadly video content reach billions of people daily with the rise of streaming platforms but we have a poor understanding of which content has a positive societal impact. Work such as this research by Save the Elephants can be crucial to determine what works, where and for whom.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nFrank Pope, CEO of Save the Elephants, says,\u00a0\u201cElephants need the respect of the people that they live beside if they are to thrive in a modern Africa. Films have opened the hearts & minds of people around the world to the importance of nature, but have missed their most important audience. Africans living in rural areas often lack electricity, let alone televisions. \u2018The Elephant Queen\u2019 mobile cinema shows how powerful it can be to bring these stories home.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 7 \u2013 Powerful, award-winning nature films like \u2018The Elephant Queen\u2019,\u00a0made by filmmakers Mark Deeble, Victoria Stone and Etienne Oliff,\u00a0have the potential to reshape attitudes and garner support for elephants in rural communities, according to a new study.\u00a0 The findings are crucial at a time when Kenya and other parts of Africa are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9810\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}