Life and Leisure

An elephantine task

By Zhang Zixuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-12 08:02

Mahout P. Boonma walks with his 14-year-old elephant Kachapatch. Sataporn Thonema / For China Daily

Xiao Wei stands in front of 36-year-old Asian elephant Yala at Thai Elephant Conservation Center. Panita Kongcook / For China Daily

An amateur documentary on wild Asian elephants could be a wake-up call to protect the fast-disappearing habitats of a species perilously close to becoming endangered. Zhang Zixuan reports

Greenpeace volunteer and musician Xiao Wei says he never thought the scene that confronted him at Bangkok's Elephant Conservation Center, on Sept 12, 2009, would have had such a profound effect on him. Although aware of the animal's awesome strength, he was stunned when one elephant wrecked a huge tree in just seconds.

Over the next 15 days, he joined several other volunteers from NGOs all over the world as part of a caravan, led by the center's five elephants, for a 250 km trek from the Khao Yai National Park to the Thai capital.

The aim was to call on world leaders to take decisive action on global warming at the Copenhagen Climate Summit 2009.

Xiao, lead vocalist of the rock band The Catcher in the Rye, joined Greenpeace, an independent global organization aimed at promoting environment protection, in 2006.

The only Chinese person in the Elephant Caravan, Xiao spent 15 days in close proximity with the elephants, observing their interactions with their mahouts. He also witnessed the destruction of their habitat, despite their revered status in Thai culture.

"There are less than 3,000 wild Asian elephants left in Thailand, with the domesticated ones numbering around the same," says 38-year-old Xiao.

Deeply affected by their plight, he grabbed a video recorder to capture some footage that he meant to keep as personal memento. But seeing these gentle giants at play, he decided to go public and raise awareness of the need to protect them.

It was then that he thought of making his documentary, Elephanting.

But this was no easy task for the green hand, who had to first teach himself the basics of video editing.

He supplemented the footage of the elephant campaign, with written and visual material on the habits, history and cultural significance in Buddhism of Asian elephants. He also included a 100,000-word narrative for his film.

Over 10 months, Xiao turned his more than 700 gigabytes of footage into an 80-minute documentary.

Xi Zhinong, one of the country's foremost wildlife photographers, who has devoted the past 20 years to wildlife protection and helped Xiao with some footage shot by him, says the musician "has done a remarkable job in visual presentation".

"It shows a passion that even some professional work lacks."

Xi laments the fact that there isn't any Chinese organization specifically committed to elephant protection, despite their habitats increasingly being gobbled up by airports, crops and villages.

He believes the documentary will serve as a wake-up call.

Xiao's inclusion of several original songs from his band, in the movie, adds much to its appeal. He also uses a Thai folk rhythm chang, or elephant, in the Thai language, as the theme song.

The folk songs that Xiao learned from the locals also appear several times in the movie, underlining the harmony between humans and elephants.

On Aug 7, Elephanting was voted Best Film for Educational Value at the Third China Ya'an Panda International Animal & Nature Film Festival, which aims to promote the idea of sustainable development and low carbon life through movies.

In 2009, Xiao attended the festival as a performing guest, and a year later was one of its prize-winning directors.

Recalling the moment he received the award at Ya'an, Xiao uses the word "dreamlike" to describe his feelings. Xiao finished and submitted the movie just one week before the film festival.

The father of a 6-year-old girl is now working on a second documentary on African elephants.

Elephanting has already been shown on some provincial TV stations and its director is planning a re-edited version, with more elephant footage, aimed at primary and middle school children.

"Children show a natural intimacy with animals, even big ones," Xiao says. "It's more meaningful to plant the seeds of animal protection in children's minds."

(China Daily 10/12/2010 page20)