EIA films screen in Australia and New Zealand
Nat Geo Wild documentaries go undercover with campaign group
LONDON: The risky undercover work of the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is showcased in three new films to be broadcast in Australia and New Zealand on Nat Geo Wild from Thursday, January 5, 2012.
A year in the making, the films follow EIA through countries as diverse as Iceland, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, China and Kenya to chronicle new investigations into whaling, illegal logging and the ivory trade.
• Chainsaw Massacre – Nat Geo Wild, January 5 at 7.30pm
Vietnam is fast becoming a major player in the global timber industry but, with little of its own forest left, it is largely dependent on importing raw materials. EIA suspects much of this timber is being taken illegally from neighbouring Laos, and uncovers evidence implicating the Vietnamese military as a key player.
The film will be repeated on Friday, January 6 at 7.30am; Saturday, January 28 at 12.30pm; and Sunday, January 29 at 12.30am.
View the trailer for Chainsaw Massacre (UK title The Real Chainsaw Massacre) here.
• Blood Ivory – Nat Geo Wild, January 12 at 7.30pm
Following an upsurge in elephant poaching and ivory smuggling, EIA sets out to establish what’s really going on. In Kenya’s national parks, it documents the horrific reality of elephant poaching, and in China its covert investigations expose startling information about how the ivory smuggling underworld works and the role of the Chinese Government in driving the black market.
The film will be repeated on Friday, January 13 at 7.30am; Saturday, January 28 at 1.30pm; and Sunday, January 29 at 1.30am.
View the trailer for Blood Ivory (UK title Blood Ivory Smugglers) here.
• Making a Killing – Nat Geo Wild, January 19 at 7.30pm
Iceland is hunting endangered fin whales, despite the absence of a domestic market for the resulting meat and blubber; piecing together the evidence, EIA investigators follow the trail to Japan where they discover a new trade in fin whale is being established with the help of Iceland’s whaling kingpin.
The film will be repeated on Friday, January 20 at 7.30am; Saturday, January 28 at 2.30pm; and Sunday, January 29 at 2.30am.
View the trailer for Making a Killing (UK title Hunt for the Whalers) here.
Nat Geo Wild is available on AUSTAR and FOXTEL, channel 616; Nat Geo Wild HD is available on FOXTEL, channel 238.
“We are unique among campaigning organisations,” said EIA Executive Director Mary Rice, who led the investigation in Blood Ivory. “Nobody else works right at the potentially dangerous sharp end of environmental crime in quite the way we do, going undercover with hidden cameras and covert identities to get hard evidence of environmental crime and expose the international players behind it.
“Louie Psihoyos, director of the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, said of us: ‘In the environmental movement, EIA is the equivalent of Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ – these films dramatically show viewers what he means, while demonstrating just how much a small but tightly focused and endlessly dedicated organisation can achieve.”
Interviews are available with the investigators featured in each film for stories about EIA’s methods, its unique focus on environmental crime, the dangers of working undercover and the specific cases documented.
Contact EIA Press Officer Paul Newman via [email protected], or call 020 7354 7960.
EDITORS’ NOTES
1. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) investigates and campaigns against environmental crime and abuses.
Environmental Investigation Agency
62-63 Upper Street
London N1 0NY
UK
www.eia-international.org
Tel: +44 207 354 7960
Fax: +44 207 354 7961
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