THE LAST LIONS - Suspenseful documentary of lioness battling to protect her family March 4, 2011

THE LAST LIONS
Suspenseful documentary of lioness battling to protect her family
Engagements begin March 4, 2011
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema, One Embarcadero Center, San Francisco (415) 276-4893
Tickets are $10.50 for general admission and $8.00 for seniors, students, and children

Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas, 2230 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley (510) 464-5980
Tickets are $10.00 for general admission and $8.00 for seniors, students, and children

Tickets and showtimes will be available starting Tuesday, March 1, at: http://www.landmarktheatres.com/tickets and theatre box office.

http://www.thelastlions.com

From the lush wetlands of Botswana’s Okavango Delta comes the suspense-filled tale of a determined lioness ready to try anything – and willing to risk everything – to keep her family alive. In the new wildlife adventure THE LAST LIONS, narrated by Jeremy Irons, filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert capture the epic journey of the lioness named Ma di Tau (“Mother of Lions”) as she battles to protect her cubs against a daunting onslaught of enemies. Fleeing a raging fire and a rival pride headed by the cub-killing lioness Silver Eye, Ma di Tau and her cubs make their perilous escape by swimming a crocodile-infested river. Remote Duba Island is a refuge, but it is also a strange new world for them to conquer. On Duba Island, Ma di Tau must face off with the island’s herd of fierce buffalo whose huge, slashing horns are among the most dangerous weapons in Africa. The buffalo herd is one of her biggest threats, but also one of her best hopes for survival. Yet, even as Ma di Tau faces escalating dangers and devastating loss, she becomes part of a stunning turning point in the power dynamics on Duba Island, as she brings together the rival pride in a titanic primal bid to preserve the thing that matters most: the future of her bloodline. The gripping real-life saga of Ma di Tau, her cubs, the buffalo, and the pride unfolds inside the stark reality that lions are vanishing from the wild. In the last 50 years, lion populations have plummeted from 450,000 to as few as 20,000. Dereck and Beverly Joubert weave their dramatic storytelling and breathtaking, up-close footage around a resonating question: Are Ma di Tau and her young to be among the last wild lions?

DERECK AND BEVERLY JOUBERT- The award-winning husband and wife team have been filming, researching, and exploring in Africa for over 28 years. Their coverage of unique predator behavior has resulted in 22 films, 10 books, six scientific papers, and many articles for National Geographic magazine. This body of work has resulted in five Emmys, a Peabody, the World Ecology Award, and recent induction into the American Academy of Achievement. They have been awarded the Presidential Order of Merit by the government of Botswana. Filmmaking for them has always been a way to bring the message of conservation to the world, and it is estimated that over a billion viewers have seen their film Eternal Enemies. They have been photographing, filming, and learning about wild lions for three decades and are so renowned for their probing, often poetic, insider’s view of lions that one of their documentaries was screened for Disney animators as inspiration for the heartfelt emotionality of The Lion King. Now, with THE LAST LIONS, the Jouberts bring to the big screen a story that is, for them, not just an epic cinematic adventure full of thrills and natural wonders. It is also their personal love letter to a legendary pride of lions they have come to feel part of and to know. The Last Lions, published by National Geographic Books, was written by Dereck Joubert with photographs by Beverly Joubert.

The film’s running time is 88 minutes; it is rated PG. In English.