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Journalism of Courage
For Mumbai-based Mayurica Biswas, it all began with the need to take a break from making true crime documentaries and create a series that her 11-year-old daughter would watch. The timing, too couldn’t be more perfect as her new docuseries The Resurrection Quest coincides with the recent announcement by an American biotech company, Colossal Biosciences: the resurrection of the dire wolf, a species that vanished from Earth over 10,000 years ago through genetic editing.
“This has been one of the most mind-bending ideas of our time: can we —and should we — bring back what’s already gone,” Biswas, a documentary filmmaker told The Indian Express and added that the new docu-series offers the perfect primer for anyone wanting to understand what it takes to bring back animals that are extinct, endangered or even dead.
Biswas, who leads Storyteller Films, a Mumbai-based production house, adds that Singapore-based broadcaster CNA has commissioned the docu-series that has an overarching theme centered on the ethical dilemmas posed by these pioneering scientific technologies.
“How will we decide which species to resurrect?” the executive producer and creator of The Resurrection Quest asked. Over the past year and a half, the team at Storyteller Films embarked on this extraordinary journey to follow a cast of characters across continents, united by one mission: to bring back lost worlds. The four-part documentary series raises questions such as whether gene editing can bring back the mammoth or if it is ethical to clone a pet.
The series interviews scientists, vets, and conservationists who tap on biotech tools to bring back dead or extinct animals — be it hi-tech dog cloning labs in China, racing against time to save the last of a rhino species, assisted evolution techniques to safeguard the world’s last wild horses to gene-editing extinct species like the mammoth or the passenger pigeon. Those interviewed include Ben Novak, de-extinction biologist who is passionate about bringing back passenger pigeons from extinction, the father-son Sergei Zimov and Nikita Zimov in remote Siberia who aim to revive the steppe grassland ecosystem, pet parents of Bobo in China who support cloning as the solution to deal with the loss of their dog.
“This is a tour of real and compelling science. But what are the consequences when we resurrect dead or extinct animals — can pushing the boundaries of science to this level change the course of nature or can it catalyse a new generation of science? Can it give rise to revolutionary technologies, each with the power to solve critical global issues – from climate change to human healthcare?” asks Biswas, who has won multiple awards.
Her documentaries have retraced the lives of several serial killers, chronicled the history of Bollywood, explored the future of crime science, and followed the international maker movement during Covid-19.
Resurrection Quest is structured around the thematic concept of the Samsara, or the cycle of life and birth, which serves as a metaphor for the processes of loss, birth, life, and resurrection. Each episode explores a different phase of this cycle, revealing the emotional, ethical, and scientific challenges involved.
According to Biswas, what makes this series truly special is how a small team took ownership of a mammoth project and brought it to life. She said that directors of photography Kartik Thapliyal and Kiran Kunigal brought this vision to life with striking visual storytelling. Radhika Chandrasekhar is the co-director of the work, while Tushar Ghogale, from Pune is a co-creator.
