Beverly & Dereck Joubert Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

On friday night (4th April) Beverly and Dereck Joubert received a Lifetime Achievement award from the South African Films & Television Awards (SAFTAS) for their contribution and development of the countries film industry.   Previous recipients of this award include Anant Singh who recently produced ‘Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom’.

For three decades the Jouberts have produced films in Southern Africa, many of which have helped save vast tracts of wilderness and have raised awareness on the plight of Big Cats and other iconic species that are under threat.  One of their first films, ‘Eternal Enemies’, has been watched by over a billion people from around the world, and is one of their most popular and renowned films.  The Jouberts 2011 film, “The Last Lions,” was filmed in Botswana and has since become a powerful ambassador for wild lions. In less than a year it reached over 350 million people and it continues to reach more, while collecting an array of international awards in the process.

Legadema, the leopard that features in ‘Eye of the Leopard’ (2006), has become a global ambassador for leopards, while drawing attention to the fur industry, which is destimating their numbers.  As National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence, the Jouberts have also founded the Big Cats Initiative with National Geographic to further protect all of the big cats in Africa and globally, through on-the-ground projects, research, education and ongoing awareness campaigns.

Yet it is not just big cats that they are concerned about.  Through Great Plains Foundation they are also working to protect all wildlife including elephants and rhinos that are so vulnerable right now.

View full article HERE

The Last Lions’ won the Best of Festival Award

Please see below a link to an article where the Jouberts are interviewed about the Festival, The Last Lions and their life’s work.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/a-film-on-african-lions-at-wildlife-film-festival-114012600461_1.html

Third Annual Big Cat Week

Third Annual BIG CAT WEEK on Nat Geo WILD Begins Sunday Dec. 9th,  8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT

Nat Geo WILD’s Most – Watched Week Returns with Five Nights of Premieres, Including First–Ever Capture and Release of an Endangered Snow Leopard in Afghanistan

Full schedule of BIG CAT WEEK:channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/big-cat-week/series/big-cat-week/episode-guide/

Dereck and Beverly Joubert’s films to be featured:

• “The Last Lions” on Monday Dec. 10th 8 p.m. ET and
• “The Unlikely Leopard” on Thursday Dec. 13th 8 p.m. ET

“The Last Lions,” produced by award–winning filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert, captures the desperate plight of big cats — especially lions — in Africa. Filmed at Duba Plains, their home base in the Okavango Delta of Botswana, the Jouberts’ film is a call to action to save African lions. Fifty years ago, there were 450,000 lions across Africa and today as few as 20,000 remain in the wild.

The Jouberts followed lioness Ma di Tau (“Mother of Lions”) for seven years to create their 2011 documentary. Recently interviewed by Lara Logan for CBS “60 Minutes,” the Jouberts led the TV crew on an expedition to find Ma di Tau’s surviving cub. Watch the broadcast, also filmed on location at Duba Plains in Botswana, here:www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50135741n

“The Unlikely Leopard,” the Jouberts’ 2012 documentary, is a fun story about coming of age in the African wild. It is also a part of Nat Geo WILD’s Big Cats Initiative to “Cause an Uproar” to save big cats, which are in greater danger now than ever before. Fifty years ago leopards numbered 700,000. Today there may be as few as 50,000. These top predators are quickly disappearing. The loss of these majestic animals also means that the natural balance of entire environments is destroyed. “The Unlikely Leopard” was filmed near the famous Selinda Reserve in Botswana.

BIG CAT WEEK is an extension of the Big Cats Initiative (BCI), a long–term commitment founded by the Jouberts with the National Geographic Society to stop poaching, save habitats and sound the call that big steps are needed to save big cats around the world.

To address this critical situation, Nat Geo WILD is asking people to “Cause an Uproar” and support BCI. This year’s BIG CAT WEEK will follow a series of fall activities, including the creation of the National Geographic Big Cats Sister School Program, which pairs U.S. schools with schools in Kenya, Tanzania and Botswana under the shared theme of big cat conservation.

Follow Explorers–in–Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert on Twitter @dereckbeverly

The New York Times
“‘The Last Lions’ is a worthy, intensive labor of love that took years to shoot and edit, and it’s also more gripping than a lot of recent Hollywood thrillers.”

Los Angeles Times
“It goes without saying that their [filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert] latest effort, ‘The Last Lions,’ is mightily impressive to look at.”

The Washington Post
“The tale has all the trappings of a good Jack London novel, including fearsome villains, such as a scar–faced buffalo leading a pack of its one–ton brethren, as well as a one–eyed lioness, well–known for killing the cubs of her enemies.”

USA Today
Beverly Joubert: “Once people can get to know a leopard the way we do, the great individual character and personality, they’ll understand why it’s so important to protect these cats in Africa.”

Our Amazing Planet
“Beautifully shot, impeccably edited and skillfully written, actor Jeremy Irons’ narration — which is delivered with both gravitas and understated British humor — adds a final bit of sparkle to an already arresting film.”

ABC News
Bill Weir of ABC Nightline visits the Jouberts in Botswana to see what has become of the star feline from “The Unlikely Leopard.”

“The Last Lions” wins Music Award at the Wildscreen Festival

Bristol, UK — It has been a busy few weeks for conservationists and filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert. Yesterday, the couple’s 2011 feature film “The Last Lions,” produced in association with National Geographic, won the Wildscreen Golden Panda Award for Music. The wildlife television and film competition includes over 550 delegates from 40 countries.

After the awards ceremony, Dereck Joubert shared his thoughts: “Working with Alex Wurman [conductor] and J.B. Arthur [vocal arrangements] on this film was a pleasure. We were able to mold a score with them that was emotive and culturally appropriate, but one that carefully worked in unison with Jeremy Iron’s voice and the images. Sometimes it all comes together, and the Wildscreen judges said just that last night.”

While the Jouberts have won almost every major film making award during their careers, it is the message their films convey to global audiences that fuels their boundless energy and mission of wildlife conservation. “To bring a film to the big screen and show Botswana and its cats in this light is a privilege,” said Dereck Joubert. “It gives us a bigger platform to discuss the plight of big cats and to talk about the Big Cats Initiative, which we launched with National Geographic to help stop the decline of big cats in the wild.” Help “Cause an Uproar” to save big cats by visiting causeanuproar.org

The Jouberts’ commitment to conservation also led them to create Great Plains Conservation, which generates much needed revenue for local communities, helps them care for their natural and wildlife resources and protects large swaths of land for Africa’s dwindling wildlife populations.

Great Plains Conservation is a conservation company that uses tourism as a major component to help make conservation financially viable through what we call “Conservation Tourism.” Our projects in Botswana and Kenya are rooted in this passion to make the environment whole again. It focuses on providing a meaningful experience, something special for people but by doing so with a strong commitment to the lowest impact, high value, and safari experiences. Ensuring that areas in which we operate are environmentally sustainable and financially working enterprises for conservation and for communities is what we consider responsible tourism and business. Great Plains Conservation is continually recognized by leading travel publications and organizations for its role in creating the ultimate in responsible tourism areas which not only incorporate local land owners and communities but provide havens for Africa wildlife and the ultimate in guest experience. We are the recipients of the World Responsible Tourism Award and our camps continually feature in leading publications such as Condé Nast, Travel + Leisure, National Geographic Traveler and the annual Good Safari Guide Awards.