“You know, I start to think,” Asian elephant conservationist Lek Chailert ponders in the trailer for actress Ashley Bell’s (“Novitiate”) directorial debut. “If the planet don’t have elephant, this planet [is] empty for me.”
Bell’s forthcoming documentary “Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story” aims to introduce audiences to the plight of the Asian Elephant, which is, according to Bell, often overlooked. Though most are aware of African elephants and the dangers of the ivory industry, they fail to realize that the Asian elephant is the one predominantly placed on display in zoos and circuses. Across Thailand and Cambodia, they are also captured and used as service animals.
“Love & Bananas” follows Bell and Chailert as they journey across Thailand to rescue and free Noi Na, a 70-year-old partially blind trekking elephant. Additionally, they also introduce audiences to the Panjan (or The Crush Box), which is, according to Bell, what “every single captive elephant across the world has in common.”
Chailert has been working with Thailand’s elephants for over 20 years. She was named one of Time Magazine’s 2005 Heroes of Asia, and, in 2010, was honored by Hillary Rodham Clinton as one of six Woman Heroes of Global Conservation.
“Love & Bananas” opens in select theaters April 27.
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