"Battle for the Elephants" (2013) by director John Heminway screened recently at the 16th Sonoma International Film Festival.

In this stunning and emotionally harrowing film that gives a voice to the endangered elephant, we follow journalists Bryan Christy and Aidan Hartley between Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and China as they attempt to penetrate into the psychology of the Chinese and their reasoning behind the ongoing slaughter of these majestic animals for their ivory tusks, even at the risk of the animal’s impending extinction.

The film is inspired by an article by Bryan Christy from the October 2012 issue of National Geographic: 'Blood Ivory.'

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/ivory/christy-text

In a recent dialogue with the film’s director John Heminway and producer Katie Carpenter, here is what they had to say about their spectacular documentary about this gruesome reality.

ME: Your film is about the extinction of elephants due to poaching for their ivory. I've been hearing of this for many years so it seems like the elephants have been threatened for a long time. Why is the situation more crucial now than ever? And how does this problem reflect the world trade with China today?

JOHN: The situation has been exacerbated by the experimental CITES sales in 1999 and 2008 both of which fueled the market and gave cover for illegal trade. Couple this with the booming growth of the Chinese middle class (now equivalent to the entire population of the US), the general apathy in China to animal rights issues plus a belief that ivory symbolizes wealth. I could go on-- in Africa for instance there are more governance issues than ever before, plus in a number of failed states such as the DRC, ivory is being used to fund rebel groups. In the Sudan, evidence points to the Janjaheed poaching elephant in Chad and throughout Central Africa. With all these elements conspiring to pump demand and energize supply networks, the price of ivory soars. For many in Africa, ivory is a quick way out of poverty. It ensures your family will have food and access to education.

ME: The main cause of concern is the trade with China as the richer China gets, the more endangered species are at risk. You gave numbers in your film of the number of the elephants dying. Can you say these numbers for us here please to give an idea of the scale of decimation we are talking about?

JOHN: In the film we said that an estimated 25,000 are poached annually. If we erred we did so on the conservative side. Figures now indicate that 30,000 were poached last year alone. Some would say even more. All this works out to about 100 elephant a day. For perspective, the continent wide estimate of elephant populations is quite flakey-- anywhere from 500,000 down to 280,000. Either way, if one does the math, one must conclude the elephant may not have much more than 10 years left in the wild. The forest elephant (greatly desired for the hardness of its ivory) is estimated to have declined in the last 10 years by 62%. My guess is that pockets of these elephants will be eliminated first-- maybe in the next few years. So far, nothing slows the poaching-- certainly not CITES. I personally am of the opinion that the Convention may have reassured kingpins, middlemen and poachers themselves that nothing will come in the way of their enterprise.

Here is the link to the film: http://www.pbs.org/programs/battle-elephants/

** Stay tuned for more words from John Heminway and producer Katie Carpenter coming soon.

Interview by Vanessa McMahon. April 28, 2013