Episode 223: Richard Ladkani, Impact

Episode 223 of The Adventure Podcast features award-winning director and cinematographer, Richard Ladkani. Richard has dedicated his life to impactful, compelling storytelling about our world and our place in it. His work includes The Ivory Game, Sea Of Shadows, YANUNI, and his latest film follows the life of his close friend, Jane Goodall. In this episode, Richard reflects on his life and his career so far. He starts by telling the tale of how Jane once challenged him to stop making films that were simply “interesting” and instead focus on work that could genuinely change the world. And how that one moment changed everything. He explains how that led him into the heart of the illegal ivory trade and cartel-driven illegal fishing in the Sea of Cortez. Matt and Richard unpack the reality of making “impact films”: chasing dangerous stories, earning trust on the ground, and taking risks that often define whether a story even exists. They also dive into what impact actually means and what can limit it, and touch on the challenges facing documentary filmmaking today: political pressure, platform control, and the constant tension between telling important stories and actually getting them seen. At its core, this episode is about choosing work that matters, taking risks to tell stories that need to be told, and figuring out how much impact one person can really have.

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Chapter Breakdown

00:00-05:00: Greenland & Jane Goodall: feeling lost, then being challenged to make films that actually matter.

05:00-10:00: Discovering the scale of the ivory trade and realising how few people understand what’s happening.

10:00-15:00: Arriving in Africa, gaining access, and witnessing the aftermath of elephant poaching first-hand.

15:00-25:00: How following instinct, taking risks, and building relationships opens doors to the real story.

25:00-35:00: Choosing characters and narratives that can carry impact, not just information.

35:00-45:00: How the film reached China, Jane Goodall’s role, and the potential link to policy change.

45:00-55:00: Cartels, illegal fishing, and why timing (like Covid) can derail even the biggest campaigns.

55:00-01:05:00: Why stories need hope, character, and emotional connection to actually change behaviour.

01:05:00-01:15:00: Streaming platforms, politics, censorship, and the difficulty of getting important stories seen.

01:15:00-End: Purpose, Impact & What Comes Next. Why he keeps doing it even when it’s difficult, and what it means to use storytelling as a force for change. 

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