This documentary follows Manoj Gautam, a 26-year-old Nepalese man on a passionate quest to protect animals and wildlife from cruelty and extinction. As a child he was inspired by the work of Jane Goodall, and has since become her close friend and protégé. He founded Nepal’s first wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center and Roots & Shoots branch. With minimal resources and no formal training he’s creating a network of allies across the country, busting smugglers, protecting fragile ecosystems, and rescuing abused animals. For eleven days filmmaker Gabriel Diamond followed Manoj as he traversed the country, monitoring the training and abuse of baby elephants for PETA in Chitwan National Forest, tracking down owl, eagle, and leopard smugglers, evading their death threats, rescuing cobras from snake charmers, confronting abusive zookeepers, creating a vulture eco tourism reserve, planning a massive alien plant species eradication effort, freeing pythons, teaching Tibetan refugees, and continually finding new ways to improve conditions for plants, animals, and people in his lawless and poverty stricken country.
Biography:
Gabriel Diamond got his big start making movies at age thirteen working at a cable TV station in Oakland, CA. Now he makes documentaries around the world on educational reform, youth activism, human rights, poverty alleviation, and social and environmental justice. He studied theatre at Trinity Repertory Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island and majored in visual media at New College of California in San Francisco. After co-founding The Factory, an Emmy-winning production company and learning lab for Bay Area youth, he taught video production at San Francisco State University and led media workshops for teachers and students internationally. His first feature film LESS is a narrative about a man who has chosen to live on the streets of San Francisco.
