Virunga Increases Its Awards Haul and Gains Support from Sir David Attenborough

POCKETING THE PRESTIGIOUS BLACK PEARL

It’s been another exciting week in the Virunga camp as we edge closer to the big international Netflix Premiere on Friday 7th of November. Earlier this week the documentary scooped its 20th film gong, the Black Pearl Award, for the best feature documentary at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

Virunga has also just been nominated for the Best Documentary at the prestigious British Independent Film Awards.

In other award highlights, Virunga also won the the International Emerging Filmmaker award at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Best Feature Documentary at DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Golden Rock Award at Little Rock Film Festival, two documentary awards at Hamptons International Film Festival and the Innovation Award together with a nomination for the Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival.

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH JOINS TEAM VIRUNGA

The publicity surrounding the film as well as the perilous situation in the Virunga National Park is quickly gaining momentum.

Sir David Attenborough has joined the public debate about the park and the future of the mountain gorillas, whose fate is closely linked to the welfare of the Congolese people living in and around the park. In neighbouring Rwanda, mountain gorilla tourism annually generates millions of dollars for the region.

In an strong condemnation squared at the London-based oil company SOCO International, Sir Attenborough states: “Areas like Virunga are of great scientific and natural value to the whole world … To encroach upon them, to exploit them for temporary gain totally contradicts the ideals underpinning the protection of such sites.”

The Leonardo DiCaprio -backed documentary has also received plaudits from numerous luminaries in the documentary world. The Academy Award -winning ‘grand old master’ of documentary, Errol Morris (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line) recently tweeted: “…Virunga. Another exceptional film. (Can anyone still believe that the best work in film is not done in non-fiction?)”



To find out what all the fuss is about, tune in on Netflix on Friday 7th of November for the big premiere!