Director Alison Reid has started the cameras rolling in Kenya on Pursuing Giraffe, her doc/drama hybrid about pioneer Canadian zoologist Anne Innis Dagg.

Reid is following 80-year-old Dagg as she re-visits giraffe in the wild, this time in Kenya, nearly a half century after she completed a solo trip in 1956 to South Africa, studying and documenting giraffe behaviour.

In 1956, the young Canadian zoologist, daughter of famous economist Harold Innis, took the trip a full year before Jane Goodall set foot in Africa. This trip, she will re-visit wild giraffe and meet with colleagues who followed in her footsteps.

Reid and cinematographer Jonathon Cliff are gathering contemporary footage of Dagg for Pursuing Giraffe, to eventually be intertwined with a dramatic recreation of the zoologist’s 1956 South African adventure.

“It is a privilege to be able to juxtapose her perspectives and insights as an 80-year-old with the pioneering story of her 1956 South African adventure,” Reid said in a statement about her biopic project.

There’s no word on who will be cast to play the role of Dagg in the upcoming dramatization, which will include archival 16mm footage of her South African trip and readings from letters she wrote home in 1956.

The Pursuing Giraffe documentary is timed to coincide with Dagg’s latest academic book, Giraffe: Biology, Behaviour and Conservation, to be published later this year.

The Canadian indie film is produced by Free Spirit Films, with Reid serving as writer, director and producer.

Pursuing Giraffe is slated for a release in late 2014.

Image from annedagg.net