I had a great time at this week's screening of "Jane", the acclaimed National Geographic documentary about Jane Goodall, where I was the featured speaker for a post-film Q&A session. As I walked in and waited to check in at the ticket booth, I saw a copy of my book on display to advertise the event, which I took to be a good omen!
The event was sold out at 500 tickets, and the film was shown in three theaters concurrently. After it was over, there was a Q&A discussion in one of the theaters.
The audience had wonderful, thought-provoking questions about a number of topics presented in the film, including field research methodology, handling of primates in sanctuaries and in the field, conservation, primate social groupings and the complexity of their societies and cultures, and even some topics that were not directly in the film, such as the ethics of primate use in laboratory research. I was happy to discuss this and found the audience to be sympathetic to the issues surrounding primate welfare.
I spoke for about 45 minutes, after which some audience members approached me to continue the conversation.
I am so happy that this worked out for me to speak locally. The audience's reaction to the film and to my message inspired me to seek out more speaking engagements in the future. I am grateful for the South Bay Film Society granting me the opportunity to do what I love!
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