Beth Staley [new].qxp_Layout 2 23/09/2020 10:30 Page 1
FILM GARDENING
APOPO works tirelessly to clear landmines that were dropped during the Cambodia-Vietnam war that ended over 30 years ago
A pivotal partnership Following the 2020 BAFTA Student Film Awards, Millie Bruce-Watt speaks to finalist and UWE graduate Bethany Staley, whose short film documents one charity’s mission to clear Cambodia of landmines with the help from some furry friends
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spiring environmental filmmaker and now student BAFTA-nominated director, Bethany Staley is part of the next generation of talented and innovative creators shining a light on some of the world’s most important yet largely untold stories. While studying a masters degree in wildlife filmmaking, Bethany set her sights on a Cambodian charity working tirelessly to rid its country’s landscape of unexploded ordnance that fatally injures men, women and children on a daily basis – 31 years after the Cambodian-Vietnam war came to an end. Bethany’s 12 minute and 17 second-long film, titled Scratching the Surface, delves into the work of the Belgian non-profit charity, APOPO – which has formed an unlikely, but vital, allegiance with African giant pouched rats – and follows the stories of those who live alongside the landmines and adapt to the devastating effects that they have on their everyday lives. Having been interested in the idea of human-animal relationships since studying an undergraduate degree in human geography at Cardiff University, Bethany was drawn to APOPO after discovering its relationship with the rats. With an extraordinary ability to detect TNT from the ground’s surface and light enough to walk over the mines without setting them off, one rat can search the size of a tennis court in 30 minutes – an area that would take a human four days to negotiate. “I knew I wanted to make a film about the relationship between humans and animals and I knew I wanted to explore that subject in a very positive way,” Beth says. “A lot of the stuff we see on TV at the moment is about human-animal conflict, about tigers in Indian
22 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
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OCTOBER 2020
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villages, for example – and it’s really important to show the stories because they’re issues that we need to address – but, I thought, there are so many stories about humans and animals out there, how can I take this subject matter and actually flip it on its head and show human and animal cooperation and show how important animals are to us and the need to protect them?”
Able to detect TNT and light enough to walk over mines without setting them off, a rat can search the size of a tennis court in 30 minutes
The giant rats are of invaluable assistance to the entire operation and, since APOPO launched in 1997, they have helped clear 13,200 mines from Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola, Columbia and Cambodia – saving countless lives across the world. “These animals are nocturnal so they can only work for about two to three hours a day from 4am to 7am. The rats’ ears and skin are so sensitive because they’re nocturnal animals – they’re not used to being out in the sun – so the handlers make sure they sun cream their ears and their tails, which is really sweet. They have a really good bond.”
