Titus: The Gorilla King

The compelling story of the most successful mountain gorillas has ever lived- a huge silverback called Titus. Using testament from eyewitnesses, the film relieves one individual mountain gorilla’s extraordinary battle for survival over 30 years in a unique format.

 

Titus’s story starts in 1967, when the researcher Dian Fossey fist made contact with a group of mountain gorillas in Rwanda and opened up a window onto their secret lives. Forty years on, this film reveals a complete and dramatic life story – a unique biography of an individual animal. Titus’s father was murdered by poachers in front of his very eyes. His mother abandoned him in the subsequent chaos. His family disintegrated. He should have died.

But we reveal how Titus survived against all the odds. We find him today – a king being challenged by his second in command – another silverback. Titus’s present day trials the viewer back in time to reveal key moments in Titus’s history.

Schedule

Director: David Allen

David Allen runs Passion Planet specialising in science and natural history productions for landmark television and theatrical release documentaries. He has five documentary Emmy’s to his name and eight Wildscreen Panda awards. His credits include one-off productions such as The Octopus In My House, The Lost Elephants of Timbuktu, Titus The Gorilla King, Crocodiles of the Pharaohs, and My Life as a Turkey which won David his fourth Emmy and the coveted best of festival Golden Panda at Wildscreen. As a Series Producer David masterminded the multi award winning series Bug World, ITV’s Deep Jungle, and PBS/National Geographic's Earth: A New Wild. Recent productions include a 3-part series on the water crisis entitled H20 - The Molecule that Made Us and Emmy-award winning The Serengeti Rules, a feature documentary on how nature works, and why it matters.

United Kingdom
2007
52 Min.
English
5
Director: David Allen
Script: David Allen
Cinematography: Simon De Glanville
Editing: Charles Davies
Music: Bill Lovelady
Narrator: Bernhard Hill
Editor: Charles Davies
Nominations: Best Story 2009