Smithsonian Channel – Latin America Shorts
October 7, 2020
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
October 7, 2020
Documentary
August 2016
Producer - Editor for the Carr Foundation and Gorongosa National Park Mozambique.
Synopsis
The Lion Guardian of Gorongosa follows the story of two young girls from a local village that have the chance to intern at the park.
Celina and Domingas, start their journey in an internship with Dr. Paola Bouley, the Carnivore Team are collaring and monitoring the Lion population inside the National Park. Both Interns have the chance to go abroad and study the techniques used in other wildlife sanctuaries and implement their new knowledge into protecting the wildlife in one of the most biodiverse parks in the world. This inspirational story of empowerment and resilience are crucial for the success of the Park and the communities surrounding it.
Target
The Park is still recovering from the civil war in Mozambique that ended in 1992, more than 70% of the wildlife population got decimated for bush meat. So the main focus was the domestic audience, as an educational documentary, it was important that the Mozambicans had awareness of the importance of conservation of one of the most important treasures of their country. Gorongosa National Park.
The community.
Having two young leaders as the center of the narrative helped us connect with their communities and educate them with the projects the parks is currently working on, it is important to create this symbiosis and this documentary helped us achieve that.
Result
The story of Celina and Domingas where broadcasted in all the major Networks and premiered in several festivals around the world, their story inspired a whole new generation of young mozambican girls who hope one they to follow their footsteps, in 2018 the park opened the Gorongosa girls club, who hopes to empower the future of conservation in Mozambique.
Documentary for the Carr Foundation