Prince Emmanuel de Merode Talks To uInterview About ‘Virunga,’ Leonardo DiCaprio [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW]

Virunga was recently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary, and one of the film’s subjects, Prince Emmanuel de Merode, spoke to uInterview about the film and the importance of Africa’s Virunga National Park.

De Merode, a Belgian Prince who has taken charge of Virunga National Park, is just one of the subjects starring in Virunga, directed by Orlando von Einsiedel. The film tells the story of Virunga National Park, located in the Congo. A mountainous park, home to wildlife including gorillas and elephants, Virunga is considered a somewhat sacred space, but it has been threatened constantly by war. The film specifically focuses on what dangers the search for oil pose to the safety of the animals and the state of the park. (You can watch our interview with Orlando von Einsiedel here.)

De Merode told uInterview that part of the reason he was so excited to participate in the film was because of what the director brought to his cause. “I always had this hope that we could one day create a feature film that did justice to the Park and did justice to this incredible team of Congolese rangers. Orlando really was that person,” de Merode said.

De Merode also revealed another reason he agreed to participate in the project: to take advantage of the filmmaker’s investigative skills. De Merode admitted to uInterview that he and the team of Congolese rangers who protect the park had been struggling to investigate wrongdoings by the British oil company Secor International, and he jumped at the chance to have another force joining the investigation.

“Orlando came with a whole new set of investigative skills, as an investigative documentary maker. It became very quickly obvious to me that this was a whole new repertoire,” de Merode said.

De Merode, who described the battle to keep up Verunga National Park as a somewhat hopeless task, said that the documentary gives him hope that the rest of the world will support their cause. The fact that Leonardo DiCaprio, who de Merode says appreciates the significance of “world heritage” and Verunga, produced the documentary helps.

“I think his commitment so far is really a reflection of the fact that we [are] not just dealing with one park in Africa, but with a principle that needs to be upheld. It’s consistent with the work that he does outside of his filmmaking, which is always an important part of his effort to focus on the issue of the natural environment and how we as human beings interact with it so that it’s not a very destructive relationship,” de Merode explained.

Virunga is nominated for Best Documentary Feature with Finding Vivian Maier, Last Days in Vietnam, The Salt of the Earth and Citizenfour.

The 2015 Oscars will air live on Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. ET/ 4p.m. PT on ABC.