Obviously years in the making, this film covers a necessary and optimistic phenomenon of returning the wild to the wild. With a humanistic approach as to the impact on both the wild elephant and it's human keeper. Just a beautiful film. We get to follow the kind of life this captive elephant has been forced to live and the challenges of the human who cares for the elephant. Their partnership for the human's business, adds depth to the human side. The elephant's seeming willingness to cooperate for the enterprise, and the eventual release of the elephant back to the wild. The optimistic results of releasing the elephants back to the forest is uplifting.

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will. Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward. " – Charlotte Bronte Anyone who has ever met, or had the privilege of working with Patricia Sims, would understand how the quote above explains the inner being of the woman. I had the honour to be invited to view the screening of her documentary film, "When Elephants Were Young" which debuted at the 2015 Whistler Film Festival this past weekend. The movie plot dealt with the extraordinary, yet complex life, of a mahout and his elephant living and surviving in Thailand. The juxtaposition of their lives was intertwined through a series of emotional and thought provoking scenes. Grappling with the every day need to exist and find work in a land where things are changing rapidly, the mahout had to make a heart breaking decision to sell his elephant after years of working with it, in order to survive. Coming away from the film, I was awakened to the real life dilemmas faced by both man and animal in a world where the line between right and wrong are easily skewed by age-old cultural ideals. Patricia's portrayal of the complexities on both sides of the situation perpetuated a strong sense of empathy for the mahout, yet, at the same time, confirmed the atrocities suffered by the elephant for millennia, are slowly coming to an acknowledgement long overdo. "When Elephants Were Young" is a beautiful documentary that tears at the heart with its ability to sever the ambiguity of nature vs. man by revealing raw footage of authentic life experiences between the two. I would highly suggest taking the whole family to this movie. Lyrics by Kate Bush, resounding throughout the film, summed up the gist of the movie's non-biased theme: "And if I only could, I'd make a deal with God, And I'd get him to swap our places, Be running up that road, Be running up that hill, With no problems." Patricia Sims founded World Elephant Day in 2012. Congratulations on your outstanding film achievement Patricia. Fran Duthie, Co-­founder Elephanatics

This is a documentary film about the unique relationship between elephant and man in the Asian elephant industry. It exposed many conflicts that are currently occurring in Thailand with elephants. I felt happy,sad, and anger all throughout the movie which to me means that it was a movie while worth watching. I feel like I have learned so much more about elephant tourism in Asia that I would not have learned if I had never seen it. This is a great movie if you are contemplating whether or not to see elephants while traveling to Thailand. It lays out all the facts and provides insight.I highly recommend watching When Elephants Were Young.

This documentary, about the endangered Asian elephant in Thailand, profiles the reality facing a young elephant, Nong Mai, who her owner, Wok, has pressed into illegal begging on the streets of Bangkok. Insight into the threats to the Asian elephant population unfolds alongside the tragedy of seeing the day-to-day grind and pain of Nong Mai's captivity. Loss of habitat (95 percent of Thailand's forests have been harvested and replaced with urban centres or rice fields), poaching for ivory, elephant tourist shows and illegal street begging have so seriously undermined wild elephant populations that they are considered a threatened species. The film also points out the decisions and actions taken by the Thailand government, and conservation organizations, to protect and regenerate the Asian elephant population - which is also a powerful means to regenerate lost forest. When Elephants are Young is powerfully informative and is sure to prompt anyone who watches the film to take part in helping to conserve the wild Asian elephant population in the variety of ways offered.