To help promote the protection of giant pandas and the image of Chengdu in China as a global tourist landmark known for its panda, filming on a documentary began on Tuesday in Sichuan Province. Titled “Return to Nature,” the documentary tackles the conservation, breeding and rehabilitation of the panda in a breeding facility in the Sichuan capital city and a research hub in Dujiangyan City.
9-Month Filming
The filming would likely last nine months, said Drew Fellman, the documentary’s director. The finished movie would be shown in IMAX 3D cinemas, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The documentary, funded by the American non-profit organization Global Cause Foundation, is the result of collaboration between IMAX Corporation in Canada and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
Panda Champions
On Monday, the breeding center welcomed 15 young people from different countries who are winners of an online writing contest. The trip to China is part of the prizes of the 17 winners – two could not come – from Algeria, Russia, Columbia, U.S., Japan, Nigeria, Peru, South Korea, Britain, France, Mexico, Jordan, Pakistan and China, China.org reported.
The 17 are the United Nations Panda Champions who came to Chengdu to learn more about the panda, considered a vulnerable species. When they return home, the youth are expected to help disseminate the word about the UN sustainable goals such as ending hunger and the protection of forests and oceans.
Besides meeting Qiqi and Diandian, the twin pandas which as the first animal ambassadors of the UN Development Program, the 15 will help take care of the two animals. They will undergo training at the Dujiangyan Field Center to learn how to reintroduce captive pandas to the wild. The group would also track wild pandas at the Sichuan Longxi-Hongku Nature Reserve.
The research projects set up by the Chengdu base, which the Global Cause Foundation is working with, releases pandas to the wild.