Impact Days Catalogue
By ELIZABETH UNGER and Elizabeth Unger

Tigre Gente

As China pours hundreds of billions of dollars into South American infrastructure, jaguars are disappearing from the continent’s most protected rainforests. Targeted as substitutes for tigers, historically used in traditional Chinese medicines, jaguars are now being trafficked at dangerously high numbers to fill new market demands. We follow Marcos Uzquiano, the director of Bolivia’s Madidi National Park. As he and his rangers journey deep inside Madidi for answers, Marcos realises that the politically-economic forces between China and Bolivia may be fueling the very trade itself. On the other side of the world, Hong Kongese journalist Laurel Chor decides to investigate the quickly rising jaguar trade in China. Along the way, Laurel grapples between her duty as a conservationist and the desire to defend the culture of her own people.

Sections : Impact Days, Impact Days
Country : Bolivia, China
Original languages : Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, English
Directors
ELIZABETH UNGER
Elizabeth Unger (United States)
Producers
Joanna Natasegara
Joanna Natasegara (United Kingdom)
Violet Du Feng (China / United States)
Wanderlust Productions, LLC
Completion
November 2021
Impact Statement
Our team sees the potential for this film to open up dialogue within Chinese communities instead of pointing fingers and vilifying them. This is a crucially different strategy to previous environmental films about wildlife trafficking and seeks to work on a solutions-based approach. Building a long-tail strategy with a Chinese impact producer could produce tangible results that could scale within this vast country. We already have willing grassroots partners who can supplement and support their work alongside this impact producer. Finally, we would like to promote an anti-racism agenda in Bolivia. Racism creates separation and misunderstanding, which subsequently creates more opportunities for wildlife trafficking. We hope this film will battle misconceptions and give Bolivian audiences a better understanding of Chinese culture and tradition pertaining to wildlife consumerism

Jaguar populations are at risk due to a rapidly rising demand for their fangs on the Chinese black market. Our team is committed to working hand-in-hand with Bolivian and Chinese communities to curb both supply and demand.
Impact Goals
  1. Build an informed and clear picture of the jaguar trafficking landscape in Guangdong, China.
  2. Use an empathetic approach to change the hearts and minds of Chinese audiences in Guangdong, most likely to engage in this consumerism.
  3. Pursue an anti-racism agenda in Bolivia to bridge a cultural gap and re-frame the dialogue around jaguar conservation.
  4. Decrease the number of jaguars being killed for this black market trade.
Impact Strategy
  • Develop a tailored impact methodology focusing primarily on individuals and small groups in hot-spot regions. If effective, we can replicate this methodology in other areas of China and Latin America, where jaguar trafficking is prominent.
  • Work with Chinese grassroots partners to collect data and analyze the jaguar trade within Guangdong.
  • Identify participants in Guangdong and Bolivia who are potentially involved with jaguar trafficking and find appropriate ways to share the film with them.
  • Secure a strong impact producer in China who can design targeted community screenings and discussions on the film for schools, grassroots organizations, activists, and local press in Guangdong.
  • Use the right partners to facilitate respectful dialogue after screenings between members of the Chinese community in Bolivia and the locals living there.
Contact
Primary contact
Elizabeth Unger (United States): ewu5191@gmail.com
Participants present at the Impact Days
Elizabeth Unger (United States)
Violet Du Feng (China / United States)

Foundations
Rainforest Connection (RFCx)
National Geographic Society
Shared Earth Foundation, Dutch Lottery
Sundance Institute, Snider Foundation

NGOs
IUCN NL, Earth League International, IFAW
Panthera

Film Studio
XTR

Amsterdam Royal Zoo
ARTIS

Foundations
Rainforest Connection (RFCx)
National Geographic Society
Shared Earth Foundation, Dutch Lottery
Sundance Institute, Snider Foundation

NGOs
IUCN NL, Earth League International, IFAW
Panthera

Film Studio
XTR

Amsterdam Royal Zoo
ARTIS