Carol Hopcraft, American-born-turned Kenyan conservationist and co-author of "How It Was With Dooms: A True Story From Africa," will be in Salt Lake City talking about the making of the film "Duma" and her work as a wildlife photographer and cheetah conservationist.
Her husband, Kenyan biologist/conservationist David Hopcraft, will talk about cheetah conservation and his pioneering work involving local communities in wildlife conservation.
As young parents, Carol and David adopted an orphaned cheetah cub, which they named Dooms and raised alongside their son, Xan. When Dooms (short for Duma, which means cheetah in Swahili) died, Xan was still a young boy, and in an effort to come to terms with his cheetah-friend's death, Xan co-wrote a book with his mother about life with Dooms. The book was adapted into the Warner Brothers film "Duma," directed by Carol Ballard ("Black Stallion," "Never Cry Wolf" and "Fly Away Home").
Both book and film tell the story of the unbreakable friendship between Dooms and the Hopcraft family. In a recent review, film critic Roger Ebert described the film as "ambitious and visionary" and was "touched by the film's beauty and (by) the bond between the boy and the animal."
The Hopcrafts will be in Salt Lake City to talk about the movie, the book and their ongoing work as wildlife conservationists.
Their visit is sponsored by the Salt Lake City Film Center's New Face of Africa Film Series and the Hogle Zoo's Cheetah Conservation Initiative.
The following events are part of the program:
Today the zoo will host a book and DVD signing at 4 p.m. in the zoo store. Carol Hopcraft will read "How It Was With Dooms" and sign books.
A general public screening will be held at the theater at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, fifth floor, at 7 p.m., followed by a Q&A with Carol and David Hopcraft and a representative from the zoo. The event is free and open to the public with suggested donations of $5. All proceeds will go to cheetah conservation.
On Saturday and Sunday there will be multiple screenings of "Duma" at the zoo in the air-conditioned Ed-zoo-cation Center. Screening times are noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
All guests attending the Friday evening screening will receive one free admission ticket to the zoo July 22-23. For more information on how to become a subscriber or to print out an e-mail, go to www.slcfilmcenter.org and click on "Duma."
Carol and David Hopcraft own and operate Swara Plains, a 20,000-acre wildlife ranch 30 minutes outside of Nairobi. Over 350 species of birds and 17 mammals co-exist with them. David Hopcraft is a third-generation Kenyan who has pioneered "incentive-based conservation" throughout Kenya. Incentive-based conservation believes that people and animals must live together for mutual benefit and that animal populations can be managed as a source of income for the landowner.
As a young graduate student, David Hopcraft set out to prove that adapting the wild to local conditions would enhance rather than damage a ranching environment and that wild animals are an essential component of maintaining a healthy environmental ecosystem.
The result is a wildlife ranch that has served as a pilot through the country and dramatically increased the vegetation and animals on the property. This work has been supported by research from Cornell University and the National Science Foundation. It has been recognized with the Mitchell Prize for Sustainable Development and Rolex Honorable mention prize for pioneering work in the field of conservation. David and Carol live and manage Swara Plains year-round (along with their many resident cheetahs).
Carol is a renowned wildlife photographer, known throughout Kenya for her work on cheetah conservation. They both travel the world lecturing on incentive-based conservation. They will be artists in residence with the Salt Lake City Film Center through Saturday.
The Salt Lake Film Center brings the world of film to local audiences through year-round programming, community discussion, visiting artists and outreach programs. With an emphasis on social impact and artistic excellence, the center collaborates with schools, colleges and various organizations to encourage diversity of ideas, offer films to groups who are often underrepresented and to build community through discussion.
The center's ongoing series titled "The New Face of Africa," curated by Kenya-born filmmaker and Salt Lake City Film Center board member Victoria Waldock, focuses on positive stories from the continent of Africa.
In addition to "Duma," the series features festival favorites such as "Sisters in Law" (Cannes, Toronto Awards), "God Grew Tired of Us" (Sundance Grand Jury and Audience Awards), "God Sleeps in Rwanda" (Academy Award nominee), "Karmen Gei," "Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon," "Mo & Me," "Emmanuel's Gift and the Hero" (Sundance Best Foreign Feature).