Silver Spring, MD (June 12, 2020) – In 1956, four years before Jane Goodall ventured into the world of chimpanzees, and seven years before Dian Fossey left to work with the mountain gorillas, 23-year-old biologist Anne Innis Dagg made an unprecedented solo journey to Africa to study giraffes in the wild. Now 86 and the subject of the documentary film, “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes,” the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the AZA SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE) Giraffe program are excited to team up with Dr. Dagg and virtual cinema provider Kino Marquee to offer individuals an opportunity to virtually screen the film and help save animals from extinction.
Beginning on June 12, 2020, anyone can visit AZA’s Kino Marquee website at bit.ly/TWWLGaza and purchase a ticket for $12 to stream “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes.” Patrons will have the subsequent five days to view the film. Fifty percent of the ticket sales will go to the SAFE Grants Fund, which supports animal conservation projects by AZA-accredited facilities.
“Anne’s story is truly remarkable and is one we had hoped to share with AZA members at our Mid-Year Meeting, but we were unable to gather due to COVID-19,” said Dan Ashe, President and CEO of AZA. “We now have an opportunity to share her inspirational story with an even larger audience while also giving people a way to support species conservation directly. Each ticket sold literally helps save animals from extinction.”
In the film, Dr. Dagg retraces the steps of her groundbreaking journey to Africa. With letters, and stunning 16 mm film, the picture offers an intimate window into her life as a young woman, juxtaposed with a first-hand look at the devastating reality that giraffes are facing today. Dr. Dagg and the species she loves have each experienced triumphs, as well as setbacks. “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes” gives us a moving perspective on both.
In addition to offering the public an opportunity to watch the film and support species conservation, AZA and the AZA SAFE Giraffe program will be holding a virtual discussion on World Giraffe Day (June 21) with Dr. Dagg and Alison Reid, the film’s director. All patrons who purchase a ticket before June 21 will be invited to the exclusive event.
“Anne and I are thrilled to connect with the AZA community - which in many ways feels like family. Anne fell in love with giraffes at the age of four when she saw one at the Brookfield Zoo - so she understands first hand the crucial role zoos play in providing an opportunity for people to connect with, and appreciate wildlife. We are so glad animal lovers will have a chance to enjoy Anne's uplifting story while helping giraffes and other animals at the same time,” said Alison Reid, award-winning director of the documentary.
AZA members contributed nearly $1.5 million to giraffe conservation in 2019 alone. Now in its third year, the SAFE giraffe program includes over 23 AZA-accredited facilities. SAFE giraffe program members are supporting and providing expertise for critical conservation fieldwork in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, as well as pioneering advanced veterinary techniques to provide giraffe at our zoos the highest quality of care and welfare.
“Giraffe populations have decreased by 40% over the last three decades, with the animals now locally extinct in 7 African countries,” said Liza Dadone, VMD, SAFE Giraffe Program Co-Leader and VP of Mission and Programs at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. “We are very excited to not only bring Anne’s story to a wide audience but to also educate the public on the ‘silent extinction’ facing giraffe today.”
To learn more about “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes,” please visit https://thewomanwholovesgiraffes.com.
To purchase a ticket to stream “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes” and help save species, please visit: https://bit.ly/TWWLGaza
About AZA
Founded in 1924, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and aquariums in the areas of conservation, animal welfare, education, science, and recreation. AZA is the accrediting body for the top zoos and aquariums in the United States and 12 other countries. Look for the AZA accreditation logo whenever you visit a zoo or aquarium as your assurance that you are supporting a facility dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for you, and a better future for all living things. The AZA is a leader in saving species and your link to helping animals all over the world. To learn more, visit www.aza.org.
About SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction
SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction combines the power of zoo and aquarium visitors with the resources and collective expertise of AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums and partners to save animals from extinction. Together we are working on saving the most vulnerable wildlife species from extinction and protecting them for future generations. To learn more, visit www.aza.org/aza-safe.
About Kino Marquee
Kino Marquee is a new initiative that creates "virtual cinemas" for temporarily closed independent theaters. Local audiences support their community's theater in these uncertain times by buying a virtual “ticket” to watch the film. Their ticket purchases directly support their local art house as all revenue is being shared between distributor and exhibitor, just as if they bought their ticket at the theater's box office. Kino Marquee currently works with almost 400 art house theaters across the nation.
About Kino Lorber
With a library of over 2,800 titles, Kino Lorber Inc. has been a leader in independent art house distribution for 35 years, releasing 30 films per year theatrically under its Kino Lorber, Kino Repertory and Alive Mind Cinema banners, garnering seven Academy Award® nominations in nine years, including documentary nominees Fire at Sea (2017) and Of Fathers & Sons (2019). In addition, the company brings over 350 titles yearly to the home entertainment and educational markets through physical and digital media releases. With an expanding family of distributed labels, Kino Lorber handles releases in ancillary media for Zeitgeist Films, Carlotta USA, Adopt Films, Greenwich Entertainment, Raro Video, and others, placing physical titles through all wholesale, retail, and direct to consumer channels, as well as direct digital distribution through over 40 OTT services including all major TVOD and SVOD platforms. In 2019, the company launched its new art house digital channel KinoNow.com which features over 1000 titles from the acclaimed Kino Lorber library.
About Zeitgeist Films
Zeitgeist Films is a New York based distribution company founded in 1988 which acquires and distributes the finest independent films from the U. S. and around the world. Zeitgeist had distributed early films by such notable directors as Todd Haynes, Christopher Nolan, Francois Ozon, Laura Poitras, Atom Egoyan and the Quay Brothers. Their catalog has included films from the world's most outstanding filmmakers including Agnes Varda, Guy Maddin, Olivier Assayas, Jia Zhang-ke, Abbas Kiarostami, Derek Jarman, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Peter Greenaway, Philippe Garrel, Yvonne Rainer, Jan Svankmajer, Margarethe Von Trotta, Andrei Zyvagintsev and Raoul Peck. Zeitgeist is renowned for ground-breaking documentaries which include Ballets Russes, Bill Cunningham New York, The Corporation, Into Great Silence, Manufactured Landscapes, Trouble the Water, Last Train Home, Let The Fire Burn and many more.
Five Zeitgeist films have been nominated for Academy Awards and one, Nowhere in Africa, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2003. Zeitgeist’s films have been honored by festivals throughout the world with Grand Prizes at Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, Tribeca, and IDFA in Amsterdam. The Museum of Modern Art honored Zeitgeist with a month-long, 20th anniversary retrospective of their films in 2008.
In 2017, Zeitgeist entered into a multi-year strategic alliance with renowned film distributor Kino Lorber and under that banner continues to release notable films like Alexandra Dean’s Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Matt Tyrnauer’s Studio 54, Alison Reid’s The Woman Who Loved Giraffes, Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, and Halina Dyrschka’s Beyond the Visible - Hilma af Klint.