Trailer for this documentary, "The Last Place On Earth," produced by the Oceanic Preservation Society. Right now, the film is available only at a few festivals, but the Society tells us that digital release information will be available soon.
Here's a description of the film, from an email I received from the Society. (The information is available on its website):
She was born in the Leuser Ecosystem — a vast, ancient rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia, the last place on earth where orangutans, tigers, elephants, and rhinos still share the same forest floor. She should have spent her early years swinging through the canopy alongside her mother, learning the forest, living free.
Instead, her mother was killed by wildlife traffickers. Irmelin was captured, brought to town, and sold as a “pet” for $100.
Day and night, she stayed chained in a dark alleyway. Alone. Ignored. A baby orangutan who had never known anything but her mother’s arms, now rotting away in concrete and shadow.
Irmelin’s story is one among thousands. And it all ties back to something in the food we buy every day: palm oil.
The demand for palm oil has driven wide-scale deforestation across the Leuser Ecosystem. Deforestation gives traffickers access. Traffickers take the animals. And babies like Irmelin pay the price.
We filmed Irmelin’s story for our documentary The Last Place on Earth — because we believe that when people see what is actually happening inside this forest, they will not be able to look away.
Irmelin made it. She was rescued. But right now, somewhere in the Leuser Ecosystem, there is another baby orangutan whose story is still being written — and it depends entirely on whether the people protecting that forest have the resources to keep going.
