When filmmaker Ross Kauffman pitched the idea for Tigerland, his latest documentary film to air on the Discovery Channel, he proclaimed to producers, including Fisher Stevens, that he did not want to make another The Cove, fine as it was, another doc about the poaching of animals in the wild. Oops, Stevens had produced the Oscar-winning film about the endangered dolphins. Kauffman got the job anyway. Tigerland does address the diminution of the world’s tiger population, now only about 3400 in the wild, but as is this documentarian’s special skill, he gives the story a human face, focusing on the individuals, one in India, another in Russia, key figures who do the work of keeping the tiger species alive.

Spoiler alert: this work is not done without perils. I do not have to tell you that magnificent as they are, tigers are large cats that can maul, and one of Tigerland’s dramatic moments is when a rescued female breaks through a metal fence. Providing a montage on the history of tiger lore, the film goes from William Blake’s “The Tiger” (Burning Bright) from his Songs of Experience to Pooh’s pal Tigger with ease. At a special screening this week at the Crosby Street Hotel, friends Gina Gershon and Chris Hegedus among the crowd, marveled at Ross Kauffman’s accomplishment, as did Kizmin Reeves, Director of Tigers in America, an organization dedicated to the care and shelter “for abused and unwanted tigers in America.” Really?

Regina Weinreich

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