BAMA AND THE LOST GORILLAS
Cameroonian wildlife keeper Alfred Bama has an extraordinary bond with gorillas. He cares for them at the Limbe Wildlife Center, a sanctuary for orphaned primates. Loved and respected by all his gorillas, Bama is close to Nyango, a western river gorilla, the world's most endangered great ape. The film follows Bama as he searches for Nyango's last remaining wild relatives. It's a story of great friendship, featuring the first-ever television footage of a western river gorilla in the wild.
Production companies:
Studio Hamburg DocLights
NDR Naturfilm
2009, Germany, 45 minutes
Producer: Brita Kiveber
Directors: Ernst Zasse, Niki Lancaster
Cinematography: Hans-Peter Kuther, Ernst Zasse
Music: Klaus Hildenhoff
Editing: Klaus Müller
Ernst Sasse (1953) After finishing his biology and geography studies, Ernst Sasse spent a while teaching before swapping chalk for camera. First collaboration between Ernst Sasse and Hans-Peter Kuttler (b. 1971), who went straight from studying biology and working as a photographer to nature documentaries, was in 2003 in Vietnam, where extreme heat and murderous humidity welded them together: in the meantime, the pair have made numerous documentaries in Asia, Africa and Europe.
Filmography Vietnam – die Suche nach einem Phantom (2003), Uganda – Licht und Schatten Afrikas (2003), Das Wendland (2004), Bulgarien – durch den wilden Balkan (2005), Ostfriesland – 7 Inseln und ein Meer (2006), Wild Russia – Caucasus (2008), Bama and the lost Gorillas (2009), Scotland – Islands and Highlands (2010).