M-Net has acquired the award-winning and hard-hitting rhino-poaching documentary, STROOP - Journey into the Rhino Horn War with Bonné de Bod with both the English and Afrikaans versions that will be broadcast across its M-Net (DStv 101), M-Net Movies Premiere (DStv 104), kykNET (DStv 144) and kykNET&kie (DStv 145) channels during September.
STROOP has won 23 awards at 30 international film festivals so far with Bonné de Bod as presenter and Susan Scott as director.
STROOP - Journey into the Rhino Horn War takes the viewer on a rollercoaster ride between Africa and Asia. These first-time filmmakers embed themselves on the front-lines of the rhino poaching crisis where they are given exclusive access to the war unfolding.
Carving out 6 months for the project, the two women quickly find themselves immersed in a world far larger and more dangerous than they had imagined, only emerging from their odyssey 4 years later.
"Seeing what I’ve seen in this species-war on the ground, the huge emotion from the men and women fighting with integrity and courage to protect rhinos for us - it's very hard to convey that adequately on screen and I've tried to get that across as best I could," says Bonné de Bod.
"All I want is for people to see what is happening so that no-one can say, 'they didn't know'".
The crowdfunded, independent film has been acquired by M-Net and the English version will be broadcast on M-Net (DStv 101) on Sunday, 22 September on World Rhino Day after the Sunday night movie.
STROOP will also be on M-Net Movies Premiere (DStv 104) the next evening, Monday, 23 September at 20:00.
The Afrikaans version of STROOP, also narrated by Bonné de Bod, will be shown on kykNET (DStv 144) on Saturday, 28 September at 20:00 and on kykNET&kie (DStv 145) on Sunday, 29 September at 20:00.
"It’s an honour to bring STROOP home to South Africa," says Jan du Plessis, director of M-Net channels. "Even though it's a global phenomenon, it's a film about what is really going on here in South Africa and you simply have to watch it. It deserves prime spots on our schedules."
