“Ivory. A Crime Story” will be awarded on its Italian premiere at Roma Lazio Film Commission

“Ivory. A Crime Story“ is arguably one of the most condemning film ever made about the massacre of elephants in Africa. It seeks to challenge governments and organizations who are proving incapable of stopping the bloody business of ivory.
“Ivory. A Crime Story“ won the “Best Documentary Award” at the New York City International Film Festival NYCIFF 2016, and the Special Prize of the Jury “For humanism in cinema art” at the Vues du Monde Festival in Montreal 2016, where Sergey Yastrzhembskiy won also the “Best Director” award.
His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama declared in appreciation:
“I think it’s better if we see your documentary. Show it on television! If people who buy items made of ivory, learn how elephants suffer, how their numbers reduce, certainly they will look at it more seriously.  It will be very very helpful.”
This investigative documentary was produced and written by Sergey Yastrzhembskiy, a career diplomat, who was the former spokesman of the Kremlin under President Boris Yeltsin and served current President Vladimir Putin as Special Envoy to Brussels. Since 2008, Sergey Yastrzhembskiy dedicated his life to his great passions: photography and filmmaking, focusing mainly on Africa.
The event will be attended by the Russian Ambassador to Italy, Mr. Serguey Razov, the Russian Ambassador to the Holy See, Mr. Alexander Avdeev, the Italian Ambassador to Russia, Mr. Cesare Maria Ragaglini, the Prefect of the Secretariat for Communication of the Holy See, Mgr. Dario Edoardo Viganò, the President of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation and former Director of the Vatican Press Office, father Federico Lombardi, the President Emeritus of the Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Prof. Giovanni Bazoli, the President of Banca Intesa in Moscow, Prof. Antonio Fallico, Dr. Maria Giuseppina Troccoli, Direzione Generale Cinema – MiBACT.
Movie Trailer