Joan Root
Encyclopedia
Joan Root was a Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

n-born (to British parents) conservationist, ecological activist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker.
With her film-maker husband, Alan Root
Alan Root
Alan Root is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker who worked on nature documentary series' such as Survival.He was married to fellow filmmaker Joan Root, who was a Kenyan-born conservationist and ecological activist...

 (b. 19 May 1937, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

), she made a series of acclaimed wildlife films. The couple divorced in 1981 and Alan Root settled in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

 after the divorce was finalized.

Early life

Born in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

 in 1936 as Joan Wells-Thorpe, Root was the daughter of Edmund Thorpe, a British banker who immigrated to Kenya to start a new life and became a successful coffee planter.

Work

Decades before wildlife films such as March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins is a 2005 French nature documentary film. It was directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The film depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica...

, Joan and Alan Root pioneered filming animal migrations without interference from human actors. Their movies were narrated by such distinguished actors as Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...

, David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...

, James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...

 and Ian Holm
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...

. Their 1979 Survival
Survival (TV series)
Survival is one of television's longest-running and most successful nature documentary series. Originally produced by Anglia Television for ITV in the United Kingdom, it was created by Aubrey Buxton , a founder director of Anglia TV, and first broadcast in 1961...

 documentary, "Mysterious Castles of Clay
Mysterious Castles of Clay
Mysterious Castles of Clay is a 1978 film about a termite colony; filmed in Kenya by film-makers Joan and Alan Root, and narrated by Orson Welles. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature....

", was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

The Roots introduced Diane Fossey to the gorillas she would later die trying to save, took Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...

 over Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 in their balloon, and covered much of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 in their famous single-engine Cessna, their amphibious car, and their balloon, at one time equipped with a raft for water landings.

Following the Roots' divorce, she received the Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, lying north west of Nairobi, outside the town of Naivasha. It is part of the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name Nai'posha, meaning "rough water" because of the sudden storms which can arise...

 farm, along with their airplane and a cash settlement for the films they had made together.

After her divorce Joan Root became very involved in conservation projects at and around Lake Naivasha, included supporting scientists and volunteers from the Earthwatch Institute who were monitoring environmental conditions. She also chaired and funded an anti-poaching "Task Force" in the area. The Task Force strictly enforced fishing restrictions around Lake Naivasha, aresting fisherman and confiscating and burning nets, in an attempt to stop overfishing and in particular catches of undersized fish. This was however controversial with locals who saw Lake Naivasha as a necessary and communal resource of food.

Murder

In the last years of her life, like many other white or European landowners, she was subjected to harassment and threats. On one occasion, someone threw a brick through her living-room window and stole her cell phone, but she escaped out the back door. The previous year she had been carjacked and had received threatening text messages on her cell phone, but she refused to leave. After a burglary in September 2005, four months before her murder, Root had steel doors installed on each side of her bedroom, which already had bars on the windows. Still, she wouldn't leave – even when an informant allegedly leaked news that a gang was going to "do" her (kill her) soon.

On 13 January 2006, five days before her 70th birthday, Joan Root was murdered at her home in Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, lying north west of Nairobi, outside the town of Naivasha. It is part of the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name Nai'posha, meaning "rough water" because of the sudden storms which can arise...

 by four men who came to her door carrying AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...

s. There were many suspects such as disgruntled former employees, criminal gangs, organized crime rackets, poachers, those whose economic interests were threatened by her activism and even Task Force members. The four men who were arrested and charged with her murder pleaded not guilty and were acquitted in August 2007. Some involved in the case believe it was a contract killing, but the question of who paid for it remains unanswered.

Last will and testament

Joan Root had directed in her last will and testament that her land be turned into an admission-free and unfettered wildlife preserve.

Biography

Mark Seal
Mark Seal
Mark Seal is an American journalist and author. Seal worked as a journalist in Texas before becoming a freelance magazine writer in 1984, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair since 2003, and has written and co-written about 15 books....

's biography of Joan Root, Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa was published by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...

 in 2009. The book sprang from researching an article for Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...

 in 2006 when Seal was intrigued by a news report about the wildlife pioneer's death. Working Title Films
Working Title Films
Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, UK. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson...

 optioned the movie rights for Root's story before the book was written.

Filmography

  • Mizma: Portrait of a Spring (1972)
  • Baobab: Portrait of a Tree (1973)
  • Balloon Safari Over Kilimanjaro (1975)
  • Year of the Wildebeest (1976)
  • Mysterious Castles of Clay
    Mysterious Castles of Clay
    Mysterious Castles of Clay is a 1978 film about a termite colony; filmed in Kenya by film-makers Joan and Alan Root, and narrated by Orson Welles. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature....

     (1978)
  • Lights, Camera, Africa (1980)
  • The Blood of the Rose (2009) Sheffield Green Award

External links

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