The filming of the new documentary called Russian Wisents: Past, Present and Future is over. The film is made in the framework of Russian Geographical Society grant.

In the recent five years the Program of Wisent Saving in Russia raised on a new level. For the first time five specially protected areas work together to save this species. The free Orel-Kaluga-Bryansk population group of wisents was created on the basis of Orlovskoye Polesye National Park. Today it has more than 500 individuals and shows stable positive quantity dynamics.

This group was formed in the Central Russia according to Wisent Shoe Project, which brought five specially protected areas together – Orlovskoye Polesye, Ugra, Smolenskoye Pooserye National Parks and Bryansky Les and Kaluzhskiye Zaseki Nature Reserves. All these protected areas have many years of friendship and joint work with the Prioksko-Terrasny Zapovednik – one of the sources of animals for reintroduction in wild nature was the Main Wisent Breeding Center. This project would have been impossible without sharing massive practical experience of our employees, research of biology and genetics of the species.

The new documentary Russian Wisents: Past, Present and Future was created in the framework of Russian Geographical Society grant. The film is about the largest in Russia free lowland population of European wisents. The premiere screening of the film will take place in the last decade of June 2017 in different parts of Orel, Kaluga, Bryansk and Smolensk and later on regional TV channels. At the same time you will have a chance to visit Wisent Land exhibition telling how the film was made. On June 28 we will show the film in the Central Estate of the Prioksko-Terrasny Zapovednik.

Broad public access to the film is necessary to promote ecological consciousness of Russian people and to tell people, that the survival and development of wisent populations in wild nature depend on our help and understanding. The film transforms the problem of wisent reintroduction from a scientific one into a social issue. Everyone from the regions participating in the project will a have a possibility to understand why he or she needs to save the species.

For the record:

In 2016 Orlovskoye Polesye National Park won a grant from Russian Geographical Society All-Russian Social Organization. As a result a 20-minutes film about the largest free population of the European wisent in the Central Russia was created. The film is a huge informational resource, the most innovative and efficient instrument, which forms the opinion of the broad public. The plot of the film includes human-wisent relations, work of nature protection organizations and enthusiasts of wisent protection. Russian Wisents: Past, Present and Future will open the veil between us and the life of these forest giants in wild nature. A lot of attention is attracted to our role in saving wisents, which was nearly extinct because of us.

A big part of shooting was made in Orlovskoye Polesye National Park, because the park is considered the center of wisent reintroduction on Central Russia for the moment. The history of Polesye Park as a Wisent Land started in 1996. Its first inhabitants were animals from Russia, Sweden, Holland, Germany and other European countries. It was the first time, when scientists managed to concentrate all the world genetic fund of the European wisent in one free population.

The first screening of the film was in 2017, which is the year of specially protected nature territories. The film is planned to be shown during various environmental education and nature protection events for schoolchildren, teachers and visitors of the five specially protected areas, participating in the project. The project will bring wild nature and its unique processes to big audience. It will broaden the group of people understanding the necessity to protect our nature and will tell more about the activities of Russian Geographical Society.