AceShowbiz -

Angelina Jolie intends to remain active behind the lens. The actress has signed up to direct "Africa", a biopic of Kenyan politician and paleoanthropoligst Richard Leakey who battled elephant poachers in the late '80s in attempt to protect the animal's population in Africa.

The pic will reunite Jolie with cinematographer Roger Deakins who assisted her in the upcoming "Unbroken". Jolie is expected to start working on "Africa" after wrapping up the filming of "By the Sea" in Malta. She is currently residing in the southern European island to direct, produce and star in the movie with husband Brad Pitt.

"Africa" is written by Eric Roth who won an Oscar for "Forrest Gump" in 1995. "I've felt a deep connection to Africa and its culture for much of my life," Jolie said in a statement, "and was taken with Eric's beautiful script about a man drawn into the violent conflict with elephant poachers who emerged with a deeper understanding of man's footprint and a profound sense of responsibility for the world around him."

Jolie will also produce along with David Ellison of Skydance Productions, Dana Goldberg and Jon Peters. For Skydance, this is a change of course seeing that it's currently producing such movies as "Star Trek 3" and "Terminator: Genisys".