'Rhino' filmmaker at Manship Theatre

• By MICHAEL FARRAR
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: Nov 2, 2009

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

If you can't stand documentaries that point fingers, David E. Simpson agrees with you.

Simpson is an award-winning creator of documentaries on complex topics such as Vietnam, stem cells and autism, but does not like films presenting one viewpoint as right or wrong.

Now, as the producer, writer and director of “Milking The Rhino,” Simpson is coming to the Manship Theatre to screen the film and talk to the public on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m.

“Milking the Rhino” is a documentary showcasing two tribes from very different parts of Africa. Each tribe is comparing the value of their traditional life against getting into the eco-tourism business.

"It's not like the entire tribe decides, 'Yes, we're going to do this, let's become tourism profiteers.' It's a raging debate in both of the communities that we filmed in," Simpson said.

He researched four areas of Africa including South Africa and Zimbabwe, but Simpson chose to focus on the cattle-driven cultures of Kenya and Namibi where ranchers face tough questions as changes in their population and the world economy forces them into new choices.

The film shows the struggles of the Himba people of Namibia and the Maasai tribe in Kenya.

"Either one of these two stories could have easily filled a feature film," Simpson said, "but we felt that they were both so good and so rich and that they complimented each other."

While both groups are traditionally wandering cattle herders, their landscapes are usually very different with Namibia being a very dry place while Kenya is typically wetter and greener.

However, Simpson got a surprise while filming when extreme weather made the ecological debate a bit more heated.

"As it turned out, we were witnessing the worst drought in Kenya in half a century," he said.

The questions of limiting their cattle’s grazing to let lush grasses grow back and to avoid hunting wild animals to expand a wildlife preserve in order to attract eco-tourists are not casual topics.

"These are people who have lived with wildlife and suffered the consequences of living with it. You know predators kill their livestock and sometimes their children," Simpson said.