Video: National Geographic Releases Trailer for Werner Herzog's GHOST ELEMENTS

The trailer has been released for National Geographic's new feature-length documentary, Ghost Elephants, directed, written, and narrated by acclaimed Werner Herzog.

Debuting on National Geographic on Saturday, March 7, at 9/8c and streaming the next day, March 8, on Disney+ and Hulu, the film follows National Geographic Explorer Steve Boyes with some of the last remaining master trackers in the world in pursuit of an animal long believed to be a myth.

On Thursday, Feb. 26, Abramorama will host a one-night-only Ghost Elephants nationwide theatrical simulcast screening event followed by a live Q&A panel with Herzog and Boyes. Executive producer Brian Nugent will introduce the 7 p.m. public screening at the AMC Lincoln Square in Manhattan and join the panel discussion that will be transmitted live to theaters nationwide.

Abramorama will release the film in select North American theaters beginning on Feb. 27. The film will also be released in select international territories, including Benelux (POM Benelux), France (Blue Note Films), Mexico (Daimon Cine), and Lithuania (Virtuoliai). It premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where Herzog received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

In the mist-covered highlands of Angola, deep within its forests, a mystery endures: the elusive ghost elephants of Lisima, the potential living descendants of the largest land mammal ever recorded. Steve Boyes, conservation biologist and leader of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, is determined to prove their existence. 

In order to find these elusive elephants, Boyes and fellow National Geographic Explorer Kerllen Costa have teamed up with three KhoiSan master trackers — Xui, Xui Dawid, and Kobus — to succeed where advanced technology could not. 

Complementing the film is the coffee table book “Okavango and the Source of Life” by Steve Boyes, releasing March 3 in tandem with the documentary. The book expands THE JOURNEY beyond the screen, featuring more than 100 photographs, detailed maps, and Boyes’ personal reflections from years of expeditions to the Angolan headwaters of the Okavango.

It documents the same remaining waterways, communities, and fragile ecosystems explored in the film, conveying the physical and emotional toll of navigating a wilderness long closed off by war. With a foreword by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and portraits of local traditional knowledge keepers, the book offers an intimate and visually rich companion to the cinematic experience. “Okavango and the Source of Life” is available for preorder now via Disney Books.

Ghost Elephants is directed, narrated and written by Herzog. It is produced by Herzog for Skellig Rock, Inc. and Ariel León Isacovitch for The Roots Production Service. Sobey Road Entertainment is the producing partner with Brian Nugent, Andrew Trapani, Emerson G. Farrel, David Sze, David B. Kirk, Terrence Battle, Richard Sneider, Christopher White and Casey Graf as executive producers.

Photo Credit: Ariel Leon Isacovitch