2011

The Queen of Trees takes top award at United Nations Forest Film Festival

Kenyan Film wins United Nations ‘Year of the Forest’ International Film Festival

The ‘THE QUEEN OF TREES’ has been announced the winner, out of 160 entries, of the United Nations Forest Film Festival, to inaugurate 2011 as ‘The Year of the Forest’.

The film was a collaboration between Kenya-based filmmakers Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone and Kenya Wildlife Service.

Filmed in Tsavo West National Park over a period of two years, the film tells the extraordinary story of the African Sycomore Fig and the myriad animals and insects it supports.

Director Victoria Stone said, “This most recent award is the ‘jewel in the crown’ of more that thirty international awards for the film. It shows that people are truly moved by the intricate web of life that a single tree can support. We must cherish our forests, particularly in Kenya, and support those who are tasked with their protection”.

Mark Deeble commented, ‘We are thrilled that this accolade goes to a film about an iconic Kenyan tree filmed in a Kenyan National Park. Trees are often overlooked in the pursuit of the ‘big five’ - let’s hope that in this ‘Year of the Forest’, Kenya’s ‘big five trees’ get the attention they deserve’.

The film was recently voted one of the ten ‘best wildlife films of all time’ in a ‘REALSCREEN’ survey. The UK’s David Attenborough described the film as ‘a masterpiece’
Filmmakers Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone who first came to East Africa twenty years ago, to work with world-acclaimed wildlife filmmaker Alan Root, have worked in association with KWS for over fifteen years to produce award-winning films about Kenyan wildlife: ‘The Queen of Trees’, ‘Mzima: Haunt of the Riverhorse’ and ‘Tale of the Tides’.
You can read more about THE YEAR OF THE FOREST here