Words by Smiley Team
For the Born Free Foundation, winning the Charity Film Awards in 2020 wasn’t simply a fleeting victory for their staff and volunteers. It also helped them drive tangible change in the long term.
“Winning the award gave us a massive boost here at Born Free,” recalled co-founder Will Travers. “It was the first time we’d tried anything quite like this and it was such a resounding success. I’d like to thank all the thousands of people who voted for us, and allowed us to win the silver People's Choice Award.”
On top of this, their animation, ‘Bitter Bond’ spread awareness of canned hunting, a particularly cruel form of sport in South Africa; and helped bring it to a halt.
The film explains how lions are bred in captivity just for hunters to kill them. Lion cubs are snatched from their mother a few days after birth, raised by volunteers who are told it’s an orphaned animal.
They then subject the lion to what's called a walking programme, for which people pay to walk with an adolescent lion. After a couple of years, the creature is offered as a trophy to hunters before its body parts are sold and exported around the world.
“I think the film could have been particularly distressing for viewers but because it was animated we were able to show it from the animal’s point of view, and we were able to slightly soften the way that it was told without losing any of the impacts of this brutal story,” said Will.
With the help of the Charity Film Awards as well as the charity’s own hard work, the film gained tens of millions of views online, educating people about canned hunting and its impact on lions.
Then came some incredible news. South Africa’s environment minister, Barbara Creecy, announced plans to ban the breeding of lions in captivity for trophy hunting or to entertain tourists.
“We were hugely excited by that news,” said Will. “I think this film and the momentum that it helped generate served as a contributor to that outstanding decision by the South African government.”
Since winning, the charity has felt inspired to create two new films. These included ‘Creature Discomforts’, made with Aardman, the creators of ‘Wallace and Gromit’. They also produced an animation called ‘Protect Them. Protect Us’, in which the charity’s patron, actor Joanna Lumley, explains how protecting wildlife will protect us from further pandemics.
“As you might imagine, Born Free is all about storytelling. We tell stories to encourage people to become involved in the issues that we care about, and in doing so we welcome them into the Born Free family,” Will explained.
Will launched the Born Free Foundation along with his parents, actors Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers who played Joy and George Adamson in the film Born Free.
Initially, the organisation focused on rescuing wild animals from captivity, particularly zoos, circuses or private houses. More recently, they expanded this work to protect species in the wild. They operate at the interface between communities and wildlife and campaign to improve policies to regulate the trade of wild animals globally.
To support their work, donate here.
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