Hillary Clinton made a surprise appearance at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday to participate in the world premiere of Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s virtual reality short, The Protectors: Walk in the Rangers’ Shoes.
National Geographic’s The Protectors: Walk in the Ranger’s Shoes, is a documentary short shot in Virtual Reality that chronicles a day in the life of a ranger in Garamba National Park, managed by African Parks, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These rangers are often the last line of defense in a race against extinction as poachers continue to slaughter elephants for their ivory tusks. The rangers face constant danger and even death at the service of these sentient, noble creatures and can therefore truly be called the unsung heroes in this race against time.
Clinton was an unannounced panelist, alongside directors Bigelow and Imraan Ismail, African Parks’ Andrea Heydlauf, and National Geographic’s Rachel Webber.
.@NatGeo @AnnapurnaPics We are honored to announce a special, surprise panelist for this virtual reality #Tribeca2017 Talk: Madame Secretary @HillaryClinton! pic.twitter.com/VaxdJglOzm
— Tribeca (@Tribeca) April 23, 2017
In her remarks, Clinton spoke about her work to save elephants from poachers slaughtering them for their ivory tusks, saying “I’m proud we passed a near total ban of ivory and proud that the Chinese made a very important announcement last year on the ivory trade. Large mammals like elephants have a large role to play both in reality and in our imaginations. China had been the number one market, but the US is the second biggest market for illegal ivory.”
Clinton also referenced march Earth Day and the marches taking place earlier in New York City, Washington DC, other US cities and around the world, saying, ‘It is Earth Day and we are marching on behalf of science, and part of science is understanding the intricate relationships we share with those on this planet.”
#marchforscience shoutout from @HillaryClinton! What an amazing #earthday surprise at #Tribeca2017 pic.twitter.com/vJPvp5OEGZ
— Tribeca (@Tribeca) April 23, 2017
image via Twitter