Valdosta State University’s 2016-2017 Social Issues in Film Series will present “The Ivory Game” at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6, in Nevins Hall Room 1061. Admission to the screening is free of charge and is open to the public.
 
“The Ivory Game” unearths the black market trading of ivory tusks, a global crisis for African elephants facing eventual extinction from the epidemic.
 
“‘The Ivory Game’ focuses on some of the most extraordinary heroes fighting on the frontlines of this senseless war,” directors Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani noted in an official statement. “They are activists, rangers, undercover investigators, and conservationists who have come together for the same honorable cause.
 
“They are some of the most inspiring people we have ever encountered and in their determination, vigilance, and persistence, they give us reasons for hope. We hope for an awakening with this film. We hope it triggers action and achieves its ultimate goal: To help save elephants.”
 
Davidson and Ladkani filmed in China and Africa undercover for 16 months, working alongside a team of wildlife activists and high-level conservationists to expose the corrupt world of ivory trafficking.
 
The Netflix original documentary, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, is presented by Terra Mater Film Studios and Vulcan Productions. The film premiered in September 2016 at the Telluride Film Festival in Berkeley, Calif., and has since been nominated for four awards.
 
Dr. Lorna Alvarez-Rivera, Dr. Tom Hochschild, Dr. Anne Price, and Dr. Shelly Yankovsky, faculty members in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, sponsor VSU’s annual Social Issues in Film Series.