SCALES – THE TIPPING POINT, 40min., South Africa
Directed by Bruce Young
Bruce Young is a deeply curious filmmaker from South Africa who is fascinated by pangolins, an animal on the edge of extinction. Scales is his third film about the animal. This time he is on a personal quest to find out why these quiet, shy, harmless, and yet charismatic little creatures are the most trafficked mammals on the planet. And if there is any hope that they will survive.

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
• I fell in love with pangolins during the making of my first film about them. We made Eye Of The Pangolin in 2019 to raise awareness about their plight. While making this film I knew I wanted to dig deeper into the question of “why?”. Why are they on the brink of extinction after over 80 million years on the planet? Why now?

• I also realised that so few people even knew that pangolins exist, so making another film would contribute to awareness about the animal and hopefully people who watched the film would begin to re-examine their own relationship with our natural world.

• Making films for me has become more and more about helping people to look at themselves and their lives and so learn and grow.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
• We began developing the film immediately after finishing Eye Of The Pangolin in 2019. We were able to raise some money fairly quickly and so travelled to Cameroon for our first shoot with the team at the Tikki Hywood Foundation rehabilitation centre in that country.
• The Covid period slowed us down significantly, although when pangolins were briefly linked to the transmission of the virus from bats to humans, it did bring the animals into the limelight and people began to ask about them. Eye Of The Pangolin was on You Tube and views climbed steeply during this period. We have 439K views to date.
• Fund-raising slowed down after Covid and so it took a few years to raise what we needed to travel to Nigeria and Zimbabwe for our shoots in those countries and the shoot in South Africa, where we live.
• We finally completed the film in 2025. So it was a six year journey in total.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
• Balanced. Provocative.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
• Raising funds to make a film that was not aimed at making a profit, but rather raising awareness, was probably the biggest obstacle to completing this film. This made us increasingly grateful to those funders who did help us make the film.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
• Gratitude. Gratitude for so much – to the people who care for these precious animals; the opportunity that they gave us to film them; the team who helped us make this film; the people who funded us; and now these people who are taking the time to watch our film and respond with their thoughts and feelings about the film and pangolins. All of this is such positive energy which can only help the pangolins in their struggle to survive.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
• I have always loved stories. As I became aware of their importance and power in people’s lives, I started to want to tell stories. I began as an actor, telling stories. First in theatre and then film and television. Then I began to write screenplays. Eventually making films where I was responsible for the story on the screen became the most satisfying way to help people understand themselves, their lives and how they could contribute to improving our world.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
• The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I have been a big Clint Eastwood fan ever since I first saw this film as a small boy in our local movie house. It never ceases to keep me engaged.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
• This is a tough question because I have been so pleasantly surprised by this festival that you have created to give filmmakers all kinds of unique support and tools to help forward their careers. Right now, I have nothing to suggest that you add to what you are already doing.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experience been working on the festival platform site?
• The FilmFreeway platform has been absolutely invaluable in helping us get our film into festivals all over the world. It is incredibly user-friendly and intuitive and has made our process extremely smooth and efficient.

10. What is your favourite meal?
• Sushi.

11. What is next for you? A new film?
• Yes. I am developing a new film which is still confidential at this stage. But it is about people this time. And family. And their stories. Of course.