Just days after its director Immanuel De Morode was shot and seriously wounded in an ambush, a powerful documentary about Congo's Virunga National Park, and the fearless rangers who defend it, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The film (simply titled 'Virunga') highlights the desperate efforts of a small team of rangers who have vowed to protect Africa's oldest national park, located deep within the war-torn forests of eastern Congo. 

De Morode’s small, 'embattled' team works tirelessly to protect the park and its animal inhabitants from armed poachers, rebel militia and encroaching oil prospectors. One ranger has dedicated himself to caring for the park’s orphaned mountain gorillas – some of the last to be seen in the wild. “[The Gorillas] are my life,” he says in the film trailer. “It is love.”

The film screening has sparked controversy around London-based international oil and gas exploration company SOCO, and their alleged involvement in recent illegal activity within Virunga. 

“This documentary raises important questions that SOCO should answer urgently, as well as highlights why such a fragile and iconic place should not be subjected to oil exploration,” says Zach Abraham, WWF International’s Director of Global Campaigns.

The Congolese government has authorised SOCO to begin seismic testing and oil exploration in the park, a decision that WWF is protesting, as the park is a World Heritage site listed by UNESCO as 'in danger' and of 'outstanding world value'.

“This is a British company operating illegally in a World Heritage site," says the film’s director Orlando von Einsiedel, noting that only a tiny fraction of the world's surface has World Heritage status. "If we can't protect [that], what does it say for the Great Barrier Reef, for Yellowstone, for Yosemite?" he asks.

SOCO has responded to the allegations in a press release, stating they have not been involved in any illegal action. 

“We stand by our journalism on this film,” Von Einsiedel says. 

To date, 650,000 people worldwide have signed the WWF petition to revoke SOCO’s oil exploration permit, but the park's fate remains uncertain.