Botswana film to be screened at Sundance Film Festival

Dereck and Beverly Joubert are National Geographic explorers, filmmakers and founders of the Great Plains Foundation, a wildlife conservation organisation operating in Botswana, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

The documentary received rave reviews from the Sundance community and the board after the screening of the premiere. Dereck and Beverly expressed their gratitude and delight at the opportunity to showcase Okavango in this year’s Sundance Film Festival. “In over 35 years of filmmaking, this is our first to be accepted into Sundance, a huge milestone for us in our careers.”

The film Okavango: based on the Okavango River in Botswana is an exploration into finding the soul of the Okavango River. It investigates the different aspects of the river and how it affects wildlife and the ecosystems that surround it, but most of all it is a celebration of this unique and pristine wonder if the world.

“The Okavango is a special place, the diversity of life that interacts and survives by virtue of this river is spectacular. It is a depiction of the circle of life in its truest sense and it has been such an honour to be able to spend time understanding and interacting with nature in its raw, rugged and beautifully bare form,” said Dereck Joubert.

But as a symbol of the everything that is right, and precious about nature the film is also a dire warning that if we get this wrong and destroy this jewel, we lose much more than just one more landscape, we lose a part of ourselves.

The iconic festival which runs annually in the United States and will take place in Park City, Utah. Sundance, started by Robert Redford, is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious independent film festivals in the world. It draws record-high numbers of over 15,000 submissions a year and the final 118 feature-length films that made the cut represent 27 countries but the Jouberts' film is the only natural history biopic selected this year.

It is also the first film from Botswana to ever make it into the festival, a huge accolade for this country.

“This is an exhibition of the most pristine places on our precious planet, and its beautiful creatures, and how it impacts lives and nature. We hope that it will inspire people to protect the planet and preserve its nature for generations to come,” Beverly said.

The screening of the Okavango is scheduled as follows:

Sunday, January 26, 6:00 p.m. - 7:39 p.m.
Sundance Mountain Resort Screening Room, Sundance Resort

Tuesday, January 28, 5:30 p.m. - 7:09 p.m.
Prospector Square Theatre, Park City

Wednesday, January 29, 8:30 a.m. - 10:09a.m.
Egyptian Theatre, Park City