The Orangutan King

Orangutan Rescue - Back to The Wild

September 2014 •English

Secret Lives of Orangutans

August 2024 •English

Follow a multi-generational orangutan family through their treetop triumphs and travails in this immersive documentary narrated by David Attenborough.

Tawai: A Voice from the Forest

September 2017 •English

Explorer Bruce Parry visits nomadic tribes in Borneo and the Amazon in hope to better understand humanity's changing relationship with the world around us.

Borneo - Insel der Schönheit, Leidenschaft und Dämonie

January 1952 •German

Documentary about Borneo, the island of beauty, passion and demons

Green

October 2009 •English

Her name is Green, she is alone in a world that doesn't belong to her. She is a female orangutan, victim of deforestation and resource exploitation. This film is an emotional journey with Green's final days. It is a visual ride presenting the treasures of rain forest biodiversity and the devastating impacts of logging and land clearing for palm oil plantations.

Bruno Manser - Laki Penan

April 2007 •German

The documentary retraces the steps of Bruno Manser, a man from Switzerland who went to live with the indigenous tribe of the Penan in the Jungle of Borneo and endef up helping their struggle to defend their rainforest against greedy logging companies. The movie features original film, photo and voice recordings by Bruno Manser made in the 1980s, as well as new recordings showing how the life of the Penan has changed in just a few decades.

Born to Be Wild

April 2011 •English

Born to Be Wild observes various orphaned jungle animals and their day-to-day behavioural interactions with the individuals who rescue them and raise them to adulthood. The film unfurls in two separate geographic spheres. Half of it takes place in the rain forests of Borneo, where celebrated primatologist Dr. Birute Galdikas assists baby orangutans; the other half takes place on the arid savannahs of Kenya, where zoologist Dame Daphne Sheldrick works with baby elephant calves.

The Burning Season

August 2008 •English

Dorjee Sun, a young Australian Entrepreneur, believes there's money to be made from protecting rainforests in Indonesia, saving the orangutan from extinction and making a real impact on climate change. Armed with a laptop and a backpack, he sets out across the globe to find investors in his carbon trading scheme. It is a battle against time. Achmadi, the palm oil farmer is ready to set fire to his land to plant more palm oil, and Lone's orangutan centre has reached crisis point with over 600 orangutans rescued from the fires. The Burning Season is an eco-thriller about a young man not afraid to confront the biggest challenge of our time.

Disenchanted Forest

February 2002 •English

We call them o-rang-u-tans, which literally means "forest persons" in the Malay and Indonesian languages. They are the only great apes native to Asia. Of all the apes, they are the closest to man in genetic makeup. And they face extinction. Two years in the making, the film is an intimate portrayal of the world of orangutans, the threats to their survival and the people committed to help them thrive. The film focuses on a recent discovery that orangutans do not rely on animal instinct for survival, but instead have a culture that they have preserved from generation to generation.

Borneo in de jungle van de Sarawak

January 1982 •Dutch

Short documentary.

Terry Pratchett: Facing Extinction

March 2013 •English

Best-selling author Sir Terry Pratchett, diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2007, has one last adventure he wants to go on. Eighteen years ago Terry had a life-changing experience in the jungles of Borneo, where he encountered orangutans in the wild for the first time. Now he is going back to find out what the future holds for these endangered species, and discover a new threat to their habitat that could push them to the brink of extinction. His Alzheimer's will make the trip an incredible challenge both physically and mentally, as he contemplates the role of mankind in the eradication of the planet's species, and considers his own inevitable extinction.

Zoofobia

November 2022 •Spanish

The tragic death of a polar bear triggers the end of the Buenos Aires Zoo. A superhero lover lawyer asks a court to declare the orangutan Sandra a Non-Human Person and revolutionizes the planet. A very Argentine story, full of passions, embarrassing missteps and memorable characters.

Eyes of the Devil

February 2021 •Polish

Exploring the underground world of trafficking, where children are used for prostitution and organ harvesting. Patryk Vega interviews a mother who intends on selling her unborn child to traffickers.

Hard to Believe

November 2016 •English

A documentary that examines the issue of forced live organ harvesting from Chinese prisoners of conscience, and the response - or lack of it - around the world. It's happened before: governments killing their own citizens for their political or spiritual beliefs. But it’s never happened like this. It’s happened so often that the world doesn’t always pay attention.

Eyes of the Orangutan

Invalid date •English

Documentary of wildlife tourism and the exploitation of Orangutans

The Last Trimate

January 2008 •English

Narrated by Mel Gibson, The Last Trimate is a compelling account of the work of Birute Mary Galdikas -- who, alongside Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, is one of the three formidable women to have dedicated their lives to the great apes of the world -- she highlights the plight of the elusive 'red ape' and offers some hope for their survival as their very habitat is decimated at a startling rate.

Nénette

March 2010 •French

Nénette, an orangutan, is the star of the Parisian zoo where she has lived most of her long life. She is a mother of four and has survived three mates, and she bonds only with a few select keepers. The camera rests throughout on Nénette and the other apes in everyday situations. We only see the visitors as occasional reflections in the glass, but we hear their recorded comments and conversations alongside interviews with the zoo keepers.

Among the Great Apes with Michelle Yeoh

December 2009 •English

Renowned actress Michelle Yeoh journeys home to Malaysia to get to know her adopted orangutan, learning from the Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre about the efforts being made to safeguard and sustain this endangered species.

Operation Orangutan

April 2015 •English

A rehabilitation centre in western Kalimantan in Borneo aims to rescue and rehabilitate injured and orphaned orangutans for release back into the wild.

The Biggest Nose in Borneo

September 2003 •English

With their future in peril, two male Proboscis monkeys on the remote Island of Borneo deal with the human invasion that will destroy their idyllic home.