SA director hopes film helps save rhinos after Oscar nod
Updated | By Lauren Hendricks
The director of the South African Oscar-nominated film ‘The
Last Ranger’ wants the story to be a wake-up call on the reality of rhino
poaching in the country.

"What happens is that a lot of documentaries are getting made, a lot of people are getting onto news programme [to talk] about the devastation. At the same time one rhino is killed every 15 hours in South Africa – that’s how horrendous it is," said Cindy Lee.
"And also, our anti-poaching rangers are dying while protecting the rhinos, but none of that seems to be really making a difference."
The Last Ranger received a nod in the Best Live Action Short Film category on Thursday.
The filmmakers say it was inspired by the true story of Thandi, a rhino in the Eastern Cape’s Kariega Game Reserve that was the first to survive a poaching attack.
The director of the short movie, Cindy Lee, says she got confirmation of the importance of such a film for the plight of rhinos when it was screened in Los Angeles recently.
"Afterwards, they all came to me and said they had no idea that this was happening to rhinos, let alone how many rhinos were being killed and how many rangers are being killed - they just had no idea. So, what we do now with this kind of film being nominated for an Oscar is that so many more people get to see our story, and hopefully we can do something to stop."
Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton Mackenzie has congratulated Lee and her team on a job well done.
He says they have helped to elevate South African cinema to new heights and keep our country in the global spotlight.
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