THE ELEPHANT QUEEN

A film by Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone

Narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor

THE ELEPHANT QUEEN opens in select cinemas on October 18, 2019, before it debuts on Apple TV+ on November 1, 2019

Narrator: Chiwetel Ejiofor

Directors: Mark Deeble & Victoria Stone

Assistant Director: Etienne Oliff

Writer: Mark Deeble

Producers: Victoria Stone, Lucinda Englehart

Cinematographer: Mark Deeble

Composer: Alex Heffes

Run time: 96 minutes

Rating: PG

The Elephant Queen Synopsis

The Elephant Queen - Apple TV+ -01_F016F — The Elephant Queen – Image provided by Apple TV+

Embark on an epic journey of family, courage, and coming home. The Elephant Queen is a genre-crossing wildlife documentary, uniquely crafted as a character driven narrative. Its enduring themes are built upon a foundation of authenticity and integrity, brought from filmmakers Mark Deeble (Voyage of Time) and Victoria Stone’s (The Queen of Trees) 60 years of collective experience in the rich tradition of wildlife documentary filmmaking and production. Deeble and Stone, who are Emmy and Peabody Award-winners, spent 25 years living in the East African bush, preparing them for the unforgettable odyssey of The Elephant Queen.

The Elephant Queen - Apple TV+ 002 — The Elephant Queen Athena – Image provided by Apple TV+

The Elephant Queen is Athena, a majestic elephant matriarch, who leads her family across an unforgiving, yet cinematic natural landscape made up of grasslands and woodlands, dotted with seasonal waterholes. The elephants share their home with a cast of supporting character species who provide texture and richness to the elephants’ ecosystem – from a toenail height perspective. Athena, as leader of her herd, anticipates the coming dry season and knows there are lean times ahead. As the waterholes dry up, she has no choice but to take her family on a treacherous journey across even more foreboding landscapes, as the majestic creatures seek refuge until the rains fall again.

The film is directed by Deeble & Stone and produced by Stone and Lucinda Englehart. Deeble is the cinematographer and writer. The Music is by Alex Heffes (Last King of Scotland) and narrated by Academy Award- nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Boy who Harnessed the Wind and The Lion King).

THE ELEPHANT QUEEN Official Trailer

About Narrator – Chiwetel Ejiofor

Chiwetel Ejiofor - narrator The Elephant Queen - Apple TV+ — Chiwetel Ejiofor — photo courtesy of Apple TV+

BAFTA-winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor has a breadth of critically acclaimed work across stage and screen.

Ejiofor most recently lent his voice to the infamous character of Scar in Disney’s “The Lion King” — a CG animated re-imagining of the 1994 Walt Disney classic — where he starred alongside Seth Rogen, Donald Glover, Alfre Woodard and Beyoncé Knowles. Ejiofor will also soon appear in “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” the sequel to the 2014 film, alongside Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer.

The start of 2018 saw Ejiofor in “Mary Magdalene” alongside Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix, followed by Netflix’s “Come Sunday” with Lakeith Stanfield, Jason Segel and Martin Sheen. Ejiofor also lent his voice in “Sherlock Gnomes” alongside Emily Blunt, Johnny Depp, James McAvoy, Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Michael Caine.

Ejiofor also starred in his directorial debut in “The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind,” which he adapted from the book of the same name, written by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.

Ejiofor has also appeared in a number of films including “Salt,” alongside Angelina Jolie and Liev Schreiber and, in 2009, he starred in Roland Emmerich’s action feature, “2012.” In the same year his performance in “Endgame,” Channel 4’s moving drama set in South Africa, earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

In addition to his acting career, Ejiofor has also directed two short films including the recent “Columbite Tantalite,” which he also wrote, and the short film “Slapper,” which was screened at the 2008 Edinburgh Film Festival.

The Elephant Queen was an official selection of the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The film has also been nominated for two Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards; Best Science/Nature Documentary and Best Narration (Chiwetel Ejiofor, narrator and Mark Deeble, writer).