It was a privilege to add a new dimension to the Interpret Europe conference programme this year in the form of a conservation cinema night.
Interpret Europe’s conference on ‘Heroes, Anti-heroes and Villains’ was brilliant, inspiring, and a rare opportunity to dive into an issue where conservation often ‘shoots itself in the foot’ – narrative framing – with people that understand it so well, and from different perspectives.
I shared the Flight of the Swans film about my record-breaking expedition flying the migration route of Bewick’s swans from Arctic Russia back to the UK, which I undertook to engage people along the flyway with the conservation issues facing the species. In a Q&A session after the screening, we discussed how I learnt the hard way how different stories landed with different audiences, as I landed with each of them from out of the sky, or via national and international media. I shared how I learnt that anyone at the outset seen as ‘villains’ in a conservation problem – whether hunters, power companies, or landowners – often are the ones that truly hold the keys to the solution. You can achieve change much faster if you can frame stories so those villains see themselves instead as the potential heroes.
The conversations extending afterwards (and in to the bar) were lively, refreshingly practical, challenging and inspiring. We discussed the power of people and the stories we tell to build bridges and drive collaboration across borders when our politicians are building walls.
I came away with plans for future collaborations on film tours, talks, a potential route to funding our ‘Finding your Wings’ education programme and a lot of food for thought. Thank you for having me at #iecon25 – I’m looking forward to bringing life to all of those ideas.
As mentioned after the film showing, I am very interested in discussing opportunities for film screenings and/or speaking tours and would love to speak to anyone that might be interested in setting up a tour or screening in your countries. I can appear live in person or online for a Q&A session to complement the film screening and spark debate amongst your groups.
Here is a link to the film trailer: https://youtu.be/9YLcTq53CUg?si=Jpvt8PI7hXSZ7Nwd
And a preview version of the full film:https://conservation-without-borders.notion.site/Flight-of-The-Swans-Documentary-84ffc156f28c4f459b1b732c9fd52950?pvs=4
Sacha Dench is the CEO of Conservation Without Borders (www.conservation-without-borders.org), a wildlife conservation charity that she set up in 2019 to deliver story-focussed action to protect migratory species. Following the Flight of the Swans expedition in 2016 Sacha became known as The Human Swan and she was the Ambassador for the UN’s Convention on Migratory Species 2019-2024. Sacha can be contacted at: sacha@conservation-without-borders.org.
To cite this article: Tomljanović, Ileana (2024) ‘A heritage with moustaches‘ in Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2024, pg.13-14.
Available online: https://interpret-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Newsletter-2024_4.pdf
