Popternative: Emily Bett Rickards talks about Autumn and the Black Jaguar, Arrow and much more!
January 21, 2025
Emily Bett Rickards talks about Autumn and the Black Jaguar, Arrow and much more!AUTUMN AND THE BLACK JAGUAR follows Autumn (Pollak) who, having spent her early childhood in the Amazon rainforest, formed a friendship with a jaguar cub she named Hope. Now a teenager in New York City, she learns her childhood village in the Amazon is under threat from animal traffickers, so she decides she must return to the Amazon to save her beloved jaguar. Anja (Bett Rickards), her endearingly clumsy biology teacher, learns of her plan and attempts to dissuade her, but ends up joining her on her journey to reunite with Hope and save her from those who seek to destroy the rainforest and its wildlife. In making the film, the filmmakers used real jaguars to play Hope. The jaguars were rescued from wild animal breeders, taken care of by on-set animal coordinators, and now live in an animal sanctuary. Before filming began, both Lumi Pollak and Airam Camacho, who plays Young Autumn, spent about a year playing and imprinting with the two jaguars to build the bond you see between Hope and Autumn in the film. Director Gilles de Maistre sees this as a film that can speak to children all over the world and shine a light on the issues of animal trafficking and deforestation in the Amazon. In the film, Autumn is only a teenager, but de Maistre believes this story can inspire other young people and spark real change.
