Orange Planet Pictures premiered their beautifully compassionate new documentary Jill Robinson:’To the Moon and Back’ film, on the 24th of November 2016, based around the life story of Animal’s Asia founder Jill Robinson, at Pinewood Studios in front of a packed audience of passionate conservationists and wildlife media personnel.
The bear who changed Jill’s life
I was deeply moved by the film which follows longtime Animal’s Asia supporter actor Peter Egan as he visits Animal’s Asia’s life saving bear sanctuary in Chengdu, China and talks to Jill about her very personal journey in deciding to start such a movement.
Torturous crushed conditions facing all bears in bile farms
Born in the UK, Jill arrived in Hong Kong in 1985 and spent 12 years working in Asia as a consultant for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Repeatedly faced with scenes of widespread animal cruelty, she decided to introduce the concept of “animal welfare through people welfare” and founded Dr Dog in Hong Kong in 1991 – the first animal-therapy programme in Asia.
Jill founded Animals Asia in 1998 – five years after an encounter with a caged bear on a farm in southern China changed her life forever. Learning that bear bile could be replaced by herbs, she vowed to put an end to bear bile farming. Since then, Animals Asia has rescued over 530 bears in China and Vietnam.
Virginia McKenna and Peter Egan who both appear in the film
The producers of the film mentioned that the hardest thing about working with Jill was her inability to talk about herself – totally unselfish – every time Peter posed a question to her about herself, she would quickly turn it around and talk about her ‘team’. This woman is what true heroes are made of.
Guests: Actor Dan Richardson, Actress Rula Lenska and Wildlife Presenter Anneka Svenska with founder Jill Robinson
The film trailer can be viewed below and I have been informed by the production team that they are currently talking about world wide release but cannot confirm when or how this will be as of yet, so for now, please watch the trailer, like their pages and support the ongoing work that Jill Robinson and Animals Asia are doing across the world in the Bear Bile and Dog Meat Industries and lets make Bear Bile farming eventually a thing of the past…
Photos courtesy of Richard Symonds
Production Company Behind the film:
#moonandbackfilm
www.moonandbackfilm.com
www.facebook.com/moonandbackfilm
Twitter: @moonandbackfilm
Animals Asia Foundation: www.animalsasia.org
Animals Asia Facebook: www.facebook.com/AnimalsAsia
Animals Asia Twitter: @AnimalsAsia
Please watch the Trailer Below: