People of the Forest: The Chimps of Gombe

This extraordinary documentary, produced by Hugo Van Lawick for The Discovery Channel, follows a family of wild chimpanzees over the course of twenty years in their natural habitat of equatorial Africa. The viewer comes to appreciate the social complexity of the chimps’ lives, their unique and diverse individual personalities, and the pressures that incursions by humankind have brought to bear on their existence. With this program Mr. Van Lawick adds to his long list of achievements as a naturalist, conservationist and filmmaker. Deserving of special mention is Tim Cowling, executive producer of the program for The Discovery Channel. Part of a series of Discovery Specials, People of the Forest: The Chimps of Gombe is the first feature-length documentary produced for Discovery, as well as the channel’s first program to receive the Peabody Award.