One of the rarest lizards in the world is caught in the Indonesian jungle, exported across two international borders and dies miserably in the care of a European collector. And all this completely legally. This is the story of the silver monitor lizard, a relatively new and still completely unknown species that is already being traded on the international rare animal market. We follow the tracks of the monitor lizard from Indonesia to Japan to the USA and Switzerland, revealing how scurrilous animal traders, inconsistent legislation and toothless international agreements threaten biodiversity.
Switzerland, 2023, 29 min., German / English with English and Bulgarian subtitles
Script: Alex Spoerndli and Tobias Schreiner
Directors: Alex Spoerndli and Tobias Schreiner
Cinematography: Alex Spoerndli and Tobias Schreiner
Production: Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG
Director’s Biography:
Alex Spoerndli (Swiss) and Tobias Schreiner (German) are both freelance Journalists living and working in Beirut, Lebanon. With a focus on the middle east, they aim to tell stories relevant for humans all over the planet. They regularly cover corruption, politics, human rights and conflicts.