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| THE FIRST FILM PRESENTATION OF A LEGENDARY TREE | ||||
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One of the greatest unknowns in the evolution of vegetation on Earth is the type of trees called the Dracenna cinnabari, or Dragon's blood trees (video), in their present form. Single specimens are as old as a thousand years, growing exclusively in one location in the world, the island of Socotra, belonging to Republic of Yemen, which lies in the Indian Ocean some 60 miles from The Horn of Africa, and which used to be a part of the prehistoric continent called Gondwana (video). In March 2000, a film crew gathered by Arsmedia and TV Slovenija was the first in the world to make a documentary film about this largest Arabian island (video) where the million-years-old type of trees grow, their crowns shaped like giant mushrooms. The sap from the Dragon-tree, mythically known as Dragon's blood, was used throughout the antique world as a valuable medication, mostly as an antiseptic ointment for wounds. Roman gladiators used it, and the fame of this medicine for attaining invulnerability can be found even in the German saga of Siegfried. Antique Yemen was one of the centres of world civilisation. The famous spices and incense road crossed in the time of the Queen of Sheba, this kingdom of giant dams and temples. Therefore, Yemen was one of the richest countries of the Old World in the age of the incense trade, also called Arabia Felix, or the Happy Arabia. Socotra was then described as a mysterious fantasy island (video) and ships voyages past it with cargoes of spices and incense. SOCOTRA, THE ISLAND OF THE DRAGON'S BLOOD TREE, the film produced by ARSMEDIA/TV Slovenija/TV YEMEN, presents the story of this remote island which is one of the least known enigmas of Yemen and the world of today (video). With the exception of a BBC report, a couple of minutes long, there has been practically no similar footage made public, and there has definitely been no long duration TV documentary film about it. The film crew of ARSMEDIA/TV Slovenija was thus the first production team in the world to show a documentary film about this virgin piece of land where numerous plants and animals that are extinct elsewhere in the world still persist thanks to special climatic conditions and isolation (video). At the archipelago of Socotra, which scientists call the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean and has been under the protection of the United Nations since 1992, many endemic plants (video) have been found. Experts from all over the world study the numerous forms of plant and animal life on Socotra. These studies and efforts to protect the ecosystem of Socotra are presented by the documentary film SOCOTRA, THE ISLAND OF THE DRAGON'S BLOOD TREE (video). A team of United Nations experts helped make the film. Appearing in it are botanists and ornithologists of world renown, belonging to Bird Life International. The documentary film essay about this unusual island, inspired by Miran Hvala, directed by Igor Likar and presenting exceptional film footage by Janez Kališnik, director of photography, is thus in a sense a world premiere (video).
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Director Script-writers
Consultant Narrated
by Music Editor Sound
editor
ART
AND CULTURAL PROGRAMMES
Film
processing Editor Processing
Technicians CAT
Programmers Graphics
Guest
Appearences Inhabitants of Socotra and Hadiboh fishermen community
This film was assisted by Hussein
Mukbel
Grateful acknowledgement is made to
YEMEN
RADIO & TV CORPORATION
MINISTRY
OF CULTURE AND TOURISM OB THE REPUBLIK OF YEMEN
* FILMED
IN MARCH 2000
Copyright by ARSMEDIA
AN ARSMEDIA LJUBLJANA PRODUCTION COPRODUCED
BY and TV SLOVENIJA 2001
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