American Cinematographer - September 2022 - 37

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER ASCMAG.COM
Tania Escobar has filmed drill monkeys in Equatorial Guinea
for multiple documentary productions.
Sometimes it is also the most poignant. Joubert and his wife, Beverly,
who have lived in Botswana's Okavango Delta since the 1980s, were following
a lioness and her cubs for The Last Lions (2011) when one of the
cubs was trampled by a buffalo. The cub's back was broken, paralyzing
his hindquarters. The Jouberts knew the lioness would abandon the cub
because he could not possibly survive in the wild.
Dereck recalls, " The question dawned on us, 'Now what do we do?
Drive off? Stay there and cover it? Or use it as an exercise in what I hope
will be some of my best cinematography? We understood the cub had a
broken back and was going to die. What did I want the audience to come
away with? My goodness, that lionesses feel sadness, too! So I put the
cub in the background, slightly out of focus, and the lioness in focus. She
moans, and then has a very slow blink. At that point, the story was about
the mother and the decision she had to make to move on. Using the art
of the lens - there [you see] an individual going through great pain. And
by the way, that individual is a lioness. "
Respecting the Talent
Wildlife cinematography poses some unique challenges: The talent
won't stand on marks or take direction, couldn't care less about a script,
and sometimes they won't turn up on set at all. Filming wildlife often
means waiting patiently for long periods of time in intense cold, oppressive
heat or some other variety of discomfort - just to get a 60-second
sequence.
" Beauty is the sharpest tool in the box. "
Career Path: Getting Started
Tania Escobar saw the BBC series Planet Earth as a teenager and
decided she wanted to film wildlife. " But I didn't know if it would be
possible. You see people in the industry, and no one looks like you
- there are few women, and even fewer Latina women. "
So, she found other role models. " My inspirations were [chimpanzee
expert] Jane Goodall and [gorilla expert] Dian Fossey. They
weren't cinematographers, but they were women, and they did it! "
Escobar started out doing small jobs for NGOs in her native
Mexico, filming flamingos in the Yucatán. After she was accepted
into a master's program in wildlife production in Manchester, U.K.,
she met some filmmakers who wanted to make a documentary in
Equatorial Guinea in Africa: Lost Kings of Bioko. " I was 27, and I
spent three years filming drill monkeys there. It was very challenging,
but that's where I really learned cinematography. I had access
to good equipment, and I was shooting all the time; I worked as an
assistant for other DPs who would fly in. They were like mentors. "
She was subsequently hired to shoot the same drill monkeys
for the BBC show Primates. " Then doors started opening. "
Her latest project has been filming in Congo for the National
Geographic series Queens, which is about matriarchal species and
is shot entirely by women.
" My profile is filming in jungles on long shoots in remote areas, "
she says. " It's an exciting time for wildlife cinematography. "
SEPTEMBER 2022 / 37
IMAGES COURTESY OF TANIA ESCOBAR.
http://www.ASCMAG.COM
American Cinematographer - September 2022

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