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Foxtel marks 50 Years of Earth Day

Specially curated programming on National Geographic & BBC Earth includes a new doco on Jane Goodall.

Foxtel will mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Wednesday April 22, with specially curated programming on National Geographic and BBC Earth.

National Geographic will honour the anniversary with a week of documentaries, including the two-hour special Jane Goodall: The Hope which highlights Dr. Goodall’s legacy of four decades in animal welfare and conservation.

This special depicts the formation of the Jane Goodall Institute’s (JGI’s) “Tacare” community-centered conservation approach and Roots & Shoots youth-empowerment program; her remarkable advocacy and leadership on behalf of chimpanzees and humanity; and the next chapter for generations to come.

“Being out in the forest of Gombe, I had a great sense of spiritual awareness; I began to realise that everything is interconnected,” said Goodall. “Since then, every day, it’s become clearer that climate change is an existential threat to our natural world, and if we destroy this world, we destroy our own future. Each day, every single person has the chance to make an impact through small, thoughtful choices, and when billions of people make the right choices, we start to transform the world. Don’t give up; there’s always a way forward.”

Available from today, Foxtel is streaming the 50 Years of Earth Day Collection, featuring a range of specials and documentary films highlighting the beauty of our planet and our vital role in ensuring its future.

Immerse yourself in the sweeping cinematography of Ice on Fire, produced by Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio. Filmed across the globe, from Norway to Alaska, Iceland to Colorado, Switzerland to Costa Rica to Connecticut, Ice on Fire is an eye-opening documentary that focuses on many never-before-seen solutions designed to slow down our escalating environmental crisis.

Set sail with Watson, chronicling Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson who has spent his life sailing the globe to keep the oceans and their inhabitants safe. Blending revealing contemporary interviews with Captain Watson, archival clips of Sea Shepherd’s dramatic encounters, and spectacular underwater nature footage, award-winning documentarian Lesley Chilcott paints a fascinating portrait of a man willing to put his own life at risk in a relentless quest to protect the oceans and the marine life within.

And don’t miss The Queen’s Green Planet, a landmark documentary following Her Majesty the Queen as she launches an ambitious project to create a global network of protected forests, spanning all the countries of the Commonwealth. At the heart of the film is a rare, informal conversation between the Queen and her good friend Sir David Attenborough about their shared passion for nature, filmed in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.

Other titles featured in the 50 Years of Earth Day Collection are Little Ice Age: Big Chill, Mutant Weather, Planet Earth, Hugh’s War on Plastic, Blue Planet II, Frozen Planet, Life, Africa and World From Above.

Also premiering on National Geographic is Okavango: River of Dreams – The Divine Journey, a one hour special closely following wildlife filmmakers Derek and Beverly Joubert in the Okavango Delta; and Photo Ark, following award-winning photographer Joel Sartore on his globetrotting quest to capture some of the rarest animals in the world on film.

BBC Earth will also mark the occasion with a week of special programming screening each evening at 8.30pm from Monday, April 20. The week kicks off with the premiere of Blue Planet Revisited, exploring the challenges facing the marine eco-system and wildlife in the Great Barrier Reef and the Bahamas.

The cameras then move from under the ocean to hundreds of kilometres up in the sky in Earth From Space, capturing natural spectacles on an epic scale and showing viewers the planet’s extraordinary beauty and diversity in astonishing detail. The week will finish with a special Sunday screening of every episode of David Attenborough’s iconic Planet Earth II.

Don’t miss this incredible line-up of programming celebrating 50 Years of Earth Day. Titles available to stream On Demand via internet connected iQ boxes, on devices with Foxtel Go, and via Foxtel Now, plus on National Geographic and BBC Earth.

National Geographic: Earth Week Schedule

Monday 20th April
Before the Flood (6.30pm AEST)
From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Fisher Stevens and Academy Award-winning actor, environmental activist and U.N. Messenger of Peace Leonardo DiCaprio, Before the Flood presents a riveting account of the dramatic changes now occurring around the world due to climate change, as well as the actions we as individuals and as a society can take to prevent catastrophic disruption of life on our planet.

Tuesday 21st April
Photo Ark: Rarest Creatures (Premiere, 6.30pm AEST)
RARE is a three-part natural history series that follows National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore on his globetrotting quest to photograph some of the rarest animals in the world. These arresting, studio portraits of over 5,000 species go into the Photo Ark, Joel’s 25-year-long project to document the world’s animals before they go extinct. By looking these animals in the eye, we begin to care about them and understand their importance to the health of our planet. When we save these species, we’re actually saving ourselves.

Okavango: River of Dreams: The Divine Journey (Premiere, 7.30pm AEST)
This fourth episode of Okavango: River of Dreams provides a unique insight into how this series came to life. Closely following in the footsteps of wildlife filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert, we learn how underwater sequences in a river full of crocodiles can be filmed without fatalities. We experience the first-hand magic of drone shots that provide an overview over a vast terrain, over sceneries unfolding below – following a pride of lions on the hunt, accompanying elephants on their strenuous journey through marshland, or capturing mesmerising images of zebras and their shadows which resemble Fata Morgana-like illusions. On this ‘Divine Journey’, we get a glimpse of what it’s like to film in the vast Okavango region over the course of many years, where life goes on either way – be it drought or flood, danger or peace.

Wednesday 22nd April
Jane Goodall: The Hope (Premiere, 6.30pm AEST , commercial free)
The film begins with this critical transformation and follows Jane through three decades of advocacy work. Jane knew she must take action to protect chimps and other animals living in the wild, to improve the well being of chimps in captivity and to inspire a young generation of change makers for this vital work to continue. Our cameras capture Jane as she travels over 300 days a year, meeting with everyone from schoolchildren in Zanzibar to Silicon Valley tech giants to Prince Harry, using wisdom, heart and humor to spread a message of hope and show that every individual has the potential be a catalyst and create lasting change.

Thursday 23rd April
Sea of Shadows (6.30pm AEST)
A looming disaster in one of the most spectacular environments on Earth sparks a rescue mission unlike any other in Sea of Shadows, a riveting new documentary with the intensity of a Hollywood thriller from National Geographic Documentary Films and winner of the Sundance audience award. Sea of Shadows follows a team of dedicated scientists, high-tech conservationists, investigative journalists and courageous undercover agents as well as the Mexican Navy as they put their lives on the line to save the last remaining vaquitas and bring the vicious international crime syndicate to justice.

Friday 24th April
Save This Rhino (6.30pm AEST)
Save This Rhino follows the desperate efforts in South Africa to save the critically endangered rhinoceros. 80% of the world’s rhinoceros, whose population is now hovering below 25,000 at the hands of poachers hunting for the highly sought-after rhino horn, live in and around South Africa.
Cricket legends Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Smith and Outback Wrangler Matt Wright join forces in an expose on the rhino crisis and the new technologies and strategies to combat it.

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