Infield Fly Productions wins CSA Awards

Last night Infield Fly Productions and Toronto director Christine Nielsen grabbed two Canadian Screen Awards for their documentary on Jumbo the elephant.

A co-production with Humble Bee Films of the U.K., Jumbo: The Life of an Elephant Superstar won best Biography and Arts Documentary and Nielsen picked up a CSA for Best Direction in a Documentary Series.

Dr. David Suzuki hosted the Canadian version while Sir David Attenborough took the reins in the U.K. – a version watched by an audience of 8 million.

“The documentary was actually Sir David’s idea,” says Dugald Maudsley, Creative Director of Infield Fly Productions. “He’d always wanted to tell the story of Jumbo the elephant – the world’s first animal superstar -- who died in St. Thomas, Ontario under controversial circumstances more than 130 years ago.”

Jumbo was once the most famous creature on earth - the star of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. But for more than a century his life and tragic death have been cloaked in mystery.

Using the latest DNA, isotope and forensic analysis, Jumbo: The Life of an Elephant Superstar attempts to answer the questions that still swirl around Jumbo who died suddenly and suspiciously on a railway track in Canada. Was he really the biggest elephant in the world? Was he suffering from tuberculosis? And was he murdered because of it?

The documentary first aired on the CBC’s The Nature of Things. If you are in Canada the film is available at: https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/jumbo-the-life-of-an-elephant-superstar