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Madre Ceiba

A 22 MINUTE SHORT FILM BY CARLOS RIVERO & SYLVIA JOHNSON

A PRIMATOLOGIST AND HER COMMUNITY FIGHT TO PROTECT THE LIVING FORESTS OF COSTA RICA’S CARIBBEAN COAST,
REMINDING US THAT THE WILD WE SEEK TO SAVE IS ALSO THE WILD WITHIN US.

Screenings

Protect the Forest

Madre Ceiba asks us to look at what is still here — what is alive, connected, and worth protecting before it disappears. Across Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, forests that have sheltered wildlife and communities for generations are facing growing pressure from development. Wildlife rescue centers are receiving more injured animals, while roads, power lines, and tourism increasingly reach into places that were once wild. The Talamanca region remains one of Costa Rica’s great strongholds of primary forest and a vital link in the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, but it will only stay wild if we choose to protect it.

 

This story is not unique to Costa Rica. In the post-pandemic world, many desirable places are changing rapidly as people move closer to nature in search of space, beauty, and connection. Madre Ceiba asks us to look at our own backyards with new eyes:

 

What wild places still exist?
Who and what depends on them?
What can we do to protect them before they are gone?

What is still here is worth protecting.

Wildlife rescue

78%

Increase in injured animals arriving at Jaguar Rescue Center over the last five years.

Arrivals per year
803 1,429
Period
Over the last five years
Source
Jaguar Rescue Center
2020 2025

A changing landscape

Explore five years of change in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca through satellite imagery (2020–2025).

Open the comparison in a new tab

See the Film

Screenings

Meet the Team

  • Sylvia Johnson

    Director/Producer/Editor

  • Carlos Rivero

    Director/Producer/Cinematographer

  • Aleix Ristol

    Second Camera/Field Assistant

  • Erick Vargas

    Sound Recordist

  • Polly Bryan

    Finishing Editor

Learn More

Protect what remains.

  • Jaguar Rescue Center

    The Jaguar Rescue Center (JRC) is a sanctuary of second chances, a place where ill, injured, and orphaned wild animals find safety, expert care, and, whenever possible, a path back to the wild.

    Visit website

  • Corredor Biológico Talamanca Caribe

    The official website of the Talamanca Caribbean Biological Corridor, a coalition of local organisations dedicated to environmental conservation and sustainable community development in Costa Rica.

    Visit website

  • Re:wild

    Discover Re:wild, an environmental organisation partnering with Indigenous peoples and local communities to safeguard the planet’s most irreplaceable ecosystems and wildlife.

    Visit website