Watch: ‘Last Days,’ Kathryn Bigelow’s Short Film About Elephant Poaching

Backed by Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, Bigelow collaborated with concept designer Samuel Michlap, head of layout Lorenzo Martinez, and Duncan Studio, to take the viewer, in reverse chronology, through every step in the blood-curdling process. She identifies the sale of ivory as a funding source for terrorist organizations like Boko Haram, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and al-Shabab.

Bigelow tells TIME: “Last year I was made aware of the very real connection between elephant poaching and terrorism. For me it represented the diabolical intersection of two problems that are of great concern — species extinction and global terrorism. Both involve the loss of innocent life, and both require urgent action….An elephant disappears every 15 minutes. It is our hope that this film helps bring an activist into existence at least that often.”

Below, watch “Last Days,” which made its online debut at TIME.com today. Here’s the film’s official website and its Thunderclap social media “crowdspeaking” campaign. 

READ MORE: Kathryn Bigelow’s Elephants PSA ‘Last Days’ World Premieres at NYFF UPDATE