Just like the iconic scene from the first Jurassic Park movie, where a real T-Rex ends up in the visitor's centre main rotunda in its massive glory as a banner glides down, Dr Steve Boyes stands in front of a display of an elephant at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., in Ghost Elephants.
But he isn't after a dinosaur.
The South African National Geographic Explorer and conservation biologist is trying to track down a creature far more elusive.
In Ghost Elephants, a new documentary film from acclaimed director Werner Herzog, Dr Steve Boyes - a real modern-day Indiana Jones - goes to the museum's rotunda, and later into its archives to extract a DNA sample, to examine "Henry", the largest elephant ever killed.
Directed, written and narrated by Werner Herzog, and produced by Ariel León Isacovitch and Herzog, Ghost Elephants is from Sobey Road Entertainment, The Roots Production Service and Skellig Rock.
Ghost Elephants is available on Disney+ and premieres on National Geographic Wild (DStv 182) on Wednesday, 11 March at 18:00 and in the forest of Angola, Dr Steve Boyes is determined to prove their existence.
With the film's release comes the coffee table book "Okavango and the Source of Life" by Dr Steve Boyes, which expands the journey beyond the documentary film, with more than 100 striking photographs, detailed maps, and Boyes’
personal reflections from years of gruelling expeditions to the Angolan
headwaters of the Okavango.
During the course of Ghost Elephants, Dr Steve Boyes and a crew travel into the mysterious Angola highlands searching for proof of the existence of a missing "tribe" of large elephants - part legend, part hope, part superstition and part of Africa's unsolved secrets: The ghost elephants of Lisima.
Teaming up with fellow National Geographic Explorer Kerllen Costa and three KhoiSan master trackers – Xui, Xui Dawid, and Kobus – they venture into a world where technology fails and that requires human eyes and human intuition to try and track down the potential living descendants of the largest land mammal ever recorded.
I had the opportunity to speak to Dr Steve Boyes about Ghost Elephants and got to ask him two questions.
"For National Geographic, this year is the 10th anniversary of the Okavango Wilderness Project," he says, giving a "bigger picture" overview of what he's been busy with.
"We have discovered and documented over 275 new species through science, new populations of endangered species up in these same highlands in Angola, working with the local Luchazi, the Chokwe and the Mbundu hunters and traditional leaders there," Dr Steve Boyes told me.
"So this is a long-term programme and we work across genetics, environmental DNA, detailed river surveys and storytelling to explain those findings to not just people in Angola and in Africa, but people globally, since science needs translation".
Seen done in Ghost Elephants, I also asked him to weigh in on modern humanity's ability to use things like supercomputers to do genetic analyses from a 70-year-old elephant skull and make genetic comparisons that help in these scientific quests and, although not out in the real world, aid scientists in finding proof of things we never would have been able to get before.
"We have the largest freshwater fish collection in the Southern hemisphere, so we can now employ new technology to help us. With one litre of water, we can tell you every single fish that's been in it during the last two weeks," he explains.
"Computers are allowing us to do this - taking air samples, taking water samples, we can tell you everything. So these databases we already use, and as computing power increases, our opportunities for analysis increase."
"What we're really doing is to look at all of the elephants across Africa - they're all split up now from each other, disjunct from each other."
"And we look at historical genetic connections, where corridors need to be created to connect them again, to see how these animals moved around 100 years ago. And all of that is told through genetics."
"Science advances," Dr Steve Boyes tells me.
"A lot of my expeditionary work, we consider ourselves as working for future scientists. We take simple water samples and have a water bank that we keep for scientists in 2050 who might be looking for something. The advance of science is moving really quickly."
Ghost Elephants is on Disney+ and premieres on National Geographic Wild (DStv 182) on Wednesday, 11 March at 18:00.
The documentary film Madu, on Sunday 14 December at 21:00 on National Geographic (DStv 191 / StarTimes 220) would be Billy Elliot if this story about a ballet dancing boy were set in England.
And while the 12-year-old Anthony Madu from Lagos in Nigeria does eventually end up in the United Kingdom, Madu is a thoroughly African story, told through an African lens, with a documentary filmmaking imprimatur that fuels the faith every person has that a better future is possible.
Madu, beautifully lensed - with graceful transitions and music befitting a documentary about a boy whose ballet talent takes him from the dusty streets of Lagos to the prestigious Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham - has plenty of twists and developments along the way.
It's Covid times! There's an unexpected medical issue! And amidst it all, Madu's documentary eye tracks a boy's dream and escape to a bigger, better and brighter life - through ballet.
The genesis of Madu started when Anthony Madu's video of him doing ballet dancing went viral on social media. The filmmakers realised they needed to jump - uncertain of how the story would unfold, but sure that Anthony would be going places - literally and figuratively.
And they were right.
Through months of filming, using parallel unit crews in both Lagos and Birmingham, and with production coordination through Los Angeles, they managed to capture everything for an extremely compelling and well-told, street-to-stage story that will leave you astounded.
I sat down with Madu directors Matt Ogden and Joel 'Kachi Benson to talk about this perfect film to watch on National Geographic and Disney+ during the Christmas period.
Your cameras captured Madu's acceptance into a ballet school abroad, travelling there and everything that happens there. Can you talk about the challenge of how it all came about and how you managed to act so quickly to be able to start following this story?
Matt Ogden: How it started is that a friend, a producer of mine who actually gave me my first job many years ago as a director and we've worked on projects since then, Jamie Patricof, sent me this video that was posted on social media.
It was of this 11-year-old boy dancing in the rain, barefoot, doing ballet moves.
I just felt something in his body language - this confidence, this passion that he was exuding even in the rain. I wanted to know more. My curiosity as a human and a filmmaker compelled me to go further down the internet rabbit hole and I found him.
'We knew that the kid was going to go somewhere'
Within a week, I was on a FaceTime with Anthony and his family.
Then I was looking for Nigerian filmmakers to collaborate with and co-direct with, and as soon as I saw Kachi had a short film called Daughters of Chibok, as soon as I saw that, I did a FaceTime or a Zoom with Kachi.
Right away, his story of becoming a documentary filmmaker, to me, mirrored Anthony's story as a ballet dancer. We took it out to market to pitch and Disney saw it.
They and we all felt like "Okay, we know this kid is going to go somewhere. We didn't know it was going to play out - England, the US, Italy, or maybe he never leaves Lagos and just gets to perform on a big stage in downtown Lagos.
But we knew there is a story here. Disney greenlit the project just on act one. It's so rare. They loved the idea.
Joel 'Kachi Benson: Yeah, I mean, you said it so well. We knew that the kid was going to go somewhere. Anthony is an amazing kid with a great story, with so much grit and determination.
We knew he was going to go somewhere. We were so fortunate to have Disney say, "You know what, we'll support you in the making of this".
And around the time he gets the information, the announcement that he's been accepted into the school, it was incredible for us to have been there at that moment to be able to capture him going to England for the first time and getting accepted into Elmhurst Ballet School.
It was beautiful. The ballet gods shone upon him and shone upon us.
So a spoiler alert here, and people reading should come back after having watched Maduon National Geographic or Disney+, or perhaps you're here now because you googled this and wanted the answer.
But a third of the way through Madu, there is this added revelatory discovery that Anthony is basically blind in his right eye.
How did you as documentary filmmakers, react to this additional twist?
Matt Ogden: I'll let Kachi tell it. Kachi, do you remember that moment when we saw it together?
Joel 'Kachi Benson: Yeah, I mean, again, we're making a film that is so intimate, you know. It wasn't a large crew so usually it's the DP's inside filming, and Matt and I are outside on the monitor, just watching.
I remember that Anthony was in a classroom and he kept whispering to himself, "I can't see the board, I can't see the board".
And Matt and I just looked at each other like "What could he be talking about? What's this about?" And Anthony kept saying that. And he went up to the teacher and complained.
With documentary filmmaking, you're documenting real life, so you don't know what life is going to hand to you; you don't know what you're going to get.
This further really deepened the story and also really showed the stuff that the kid was made of.
'We ended up making a film that
we believe will continue
to inspire millions'
Beyond the bullying and the teasing that he had endured in Nigeria, now Anthony comes to this place where there is seeming acceptance and belonging - but now he's confronted with a whole new challenge that is unexpected.
And what does he do? He takes it on, and that really makes him even more lovable. You're rooting for him to succeed. So it was unexpected but we had to accept it, we had to embrace it, embrace the challenge and document it all.
Seeing him having the courage and witnessing him having the courage to speak up and say "I need help" is important in anyone's story.
Matt Ogden: As documentary filmmakers, we always have fear - the fear of uncertainty. We don't know what's going to happen next but you kind of have to embrace it. You have to surrender and let go because it's all, as Kachi says, discovery.
When you become too rigid or too attached to an outcome that you picture in your head, you're not going to be true to the story. If you can surrender and just go with the uncertainty - that's where the magic happens.
It struck me that as difficult as it was for Anthony to succeed despite the circumstances of his location being Africa, it is as difficult to make a documentary in Africa about an African story.
Do you have any reflections on how difficult but worthwhile it is to tackle these endeavours, where you don't know whether it might actually result in something, although you did end up winning an Emmy for Madu.
Joel 'Kachi Benson: Idon't think that filming on the continent of Africa the challenges here are peculiar to just here.
I think that every place has its unique challenges. As long as you're documenting real people, with real stories, real emotions, real issues, that could get in the way of your project, there will always be challenges.
It's really about how you navigate these challenges.
There's something that Matt would always say, which is that at the end of the day, it's about what serves the story. What is in the best interest of the story, so when we're confronted with these challenges - whether internal or external - we always ask ourselves, what do we do in the interest of the story?
That always guides our decision-making.
I'm not going to say that there were no challenges but at the end of the day, we ended up making a film that we believe will continue to inspire millions of people across the world to pursue that impossible dream and that's what matters.
How would it have been if we were documenting a kid who was fighting challenges to pursue his dreams and then we gave up?
You had a Nigerian film unit, one in the UK and then Matt you in the US - different time zones and basically a tri-continental type of project. What was it like to keep Madu on track across three continents?
Matt Ogden: Lots of jet lag, lots of coffee, some Red Bull you know, but listen man, we do what we love and Anthony was a joy to work with. The crew, everyone, really believed in the story.
Joel 'Kachi Benson: Sometimes it would be Matt flying from Los Angeles to Lagos to film.
Sometimes it would be myself flying from Lagos to England and then Matt joining me from LA. So I think he suffered the most jet lag because I'm on the same time zone with the UK but we had amazing producers - they were really, really amazing and they made our lives so much easier so that we could focus on making the film.
Matt Ogden: Yeah, Kachi and I talk about this phrase "collaboration of cultures". That applies to the story itself of Anthony in two worlds - his community in Lagos, Nigeria and this ballet school in Birmingham, England.
It was shot on two continents, with me and Kachi from two continents in two different cultures, so our collaboration of cultures paralleled Anthony's - even the two crews.
Mateo's our DP, actually from South Africa, Charlie our DP in England and his crew, and their communication with each other - it all worked together because there are two worlds in this film.
Madu is on Sunday, 14 December at 21:00 on National Geographic (DStv 191 / StarTimes 220) and available on Disney+
In a world where everyone relentless quest for more, better and bigger seems endless, you'll benefit from standing still for a moment.
In fact, rather sit down and immerse yourself in Stanley Tucci's new food travelogue series, Tucci in Italy, on National Geographic (DStv 181) at 20:30 with episodes also available on Disney+. You owe it to yourself.
The star of films like The Hunger Games, The Devil Wears Prada and recently Conclave is once again travelling through Italy in a second travelogue series to explore the people, food, culture and the good life.
Stanley Tucci has already won three Emmy awards for his CNN lifestyle series, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.
But Tucci in Italy on National Geographic isn't an encore. It's a next adventure.
Like a warm Italian hug or a cup of steaming espresso, Tucci in Italy envelops viewers in rich colours and an explosive kaleidoscope of culture, breathtaking landscapes from green hills to houses, buildings, and cobblestone streets like something out of a fairy tale.
Here, food makers laugh loudly and animatedly reveal secrets of their dishes and their Italian heritage to Stanley Tucci, taking viewers along for a resplendent journey of the senses.
'I want to be able to just explore these different stories, whatever those stories are'
In Tucci in Italy, things are beautiful - painfully beautiful. And unpretentious.
From his surname, Tucci, you can of course correctly infer that Stanley is of Italian descent, although he grew up in New York.
With his Italian-American heritage, where the love for cooking and socialising is most magnificently ingrained, it's easy for him to explore Italy as both an outsider and in a sense, also the ultimate insider.
During the five episodes of Tucci in Italy, Stanley meets local chefs and other food makers, fishermen, artists, and even... cowboys... while savouring dishes and telling delightful stories.
He doesn't try to create a "perfect" TV show, although he's already proven with three Emmys that the right person in the right place in Italy, talking to the "right" people, can in fact, craft a miracle on screen.
"I'm not trying to top anything.I just want to be able to tell the stories truthfully," Stanley Tucci tells me when I ask him if he plans for Tucci in Italy to surpass what he accomplished with his CNN series.
"I think if you try to top something you did before, you're going to fail."
"I just want to be able to dig a little bit deeper.So it's actually the opposite. You don't try to top it.You just try to go deeper into it."
He explains that he "doesn't want to romanticise Italy".
"I think that's been done ad nauseum.I think it's not interesting and it's not truthful.I want to be able to just explore these different stories,whatever those stories are that paint a truthful picture of each region."
In the birthplace of the Renaissance, Tuscany, where he spent part of his youth, he tastes an unexpected breakfast dish. And then there are Tuscan cowboys and incredible outdoor festival food in Siena at the world-famous Palio.
In Lombardy, Italy's industrial heartland, there's food you wouldn't believe people make. And if you want to learn something about the world, discover how Italy's convenience stores and restaurants at fuel stations are like something out of an incredible dream.
Unlike in South Africa, the food places at filling stations in Italy are on a completely different level.
It simply doesn't work like here, and the difference started after World War II. It's about quality, and basically a surreal road trip experience - stopping for fuel and then walking into a quality spot for a gastronomic experience - something that's "standard" and taken for granted by Italians.
In Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy's northernmost region where people also speak German, there's soup, a skiing experience, polenta, and fishing in a mountain river. And in Abruzzo, one of the more untouched regions, there's Sunday lunch with an unexpected French influence.
In Lazio, on the other side of Rome, Stanley Tucci glides through the Italian countryside and indulges in Roman pizza, porchetta from Ariccia, fish soup, and "spring lamb" - food you have to see to believe.
'Tucci in Italy is an invitation to the table'
What makes Tucci in Italy stand out from other food and travel series is Stanley's genuine curiosity and, of course, the fact that Italians trust him and open up, chatting like he's the neighbour.
Here's he not Hollywood star or American tourist - he's one of them.
"Italy is a feast for the senses, and Tucci in Italy is an invitation to the table," he says.
"It’s about more than just the food - it's about the people, the history, and the passion that makes Italy so special. I believe that eating well is inspiring, and I hope to inspire viewers to embrace the beauty and richness of Italian culture."
Tucci in Italyis on National Geographic (DStv 181) on Wednesdays at 20:30, and available on Disney+
The new documentary film OCEAN with David Attenborough will be shown on National Geographic (DStv 181) on Friday 13 June at 20:30 and will also be released on Disney+.
Released to coincide with the 99th birthday of Sir David Attenborough, OCEAN with David Attenborough just had a special 2-day showing in Ster-Kinekor cinemas across South Africa.
OCEAN with David Attenborough is a Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios co-production, in association with All3Media International, National Geographic, and Minderoo Pictures.
The film is directed by Toby Nowlan, Keith Scholey and Colin Butfield and produced by Toby Nowlan.
OCEAN with David Attenborough is National Geographic's first collaboration with Sir David Attenborough and is released a week after World Oceans Day on 8 June.
According to National Geographic, the film "draws upon extensive marine science and was supported by a team of scientific advisors, including National Geographic Pristine Seas founder, Dr. Enric Sala".
The documentary feature "takes audiences on a cinematic journey of wonder through the planet's most spectacular undersea habitats" with Sir David Attenborough showcasing diverse marine ecosystems, from bustling giant kelp jungles and coral reefs to seamount outposts within the open ocean - all of which are revealed to be intricately connected.
Although the film exposes the greatest threats to ocean health, it also has inspirational stories from around the world.
OCEAN with David Attenborough looks at how human actions are causing ocean ecosystem collapse and the effects of destructive fishing techniques, such as dredging and bottom trawling, on entire marine ecosystems, coastal communities, and the global climate.
The film also shows the oceans' incredible resilience and remarkable ability to recover when protected.
"My lifetime has coincided with the great age of ocean discovery. Over the last hundred years, scientists and explorers have revealed remarkable new species, epic migrations and dazzling, complex ecosystems beyond anything I could have imagined as a young man," says Sir David Attenborough in a supplied statement.
"In this film, we share those wonderful discoveries, uncover why our ocean is in such poor health, and, perhaps most importantly, show how it can bounce back to life."
Tom McDonald, National Geographic executive vice president of global factual and unscripted content, in a statement, says "I'm thrilled that audiences worldwide will be able to engage with Sir David's signature storytelling and the inspirational message of this film through the power of National Geographic's global platforms".
"There is no one better to deliver this landmark film than Sir David and I'm delighted that he’s working with National Geographic for the very first time on a subject that is timely and close to his heart."
