Wildlife Film News (latest news from our acclaimed newsletter)
See our 'Features' and 'Interviews' pages for stories from around the wildlife film-making world... Also check out the 'Competition Page' for the results of our 2012 film comp'!
36th Annual International Wildlife Film Festival Award Winners Announced
The 36th Annual International Wildlife Film Festival is thrilled to announce this year’s award winners. The IWFF is the first festival of its kind and the longest running wildlife film festival and conservation conference in the world. Awards were presented at a First Friday ceremony on May 3rd at the Roxy Theater in Missoula, MT.
2013 IWFF AWARD WINNERS
Lifetime Achievement Award Natural history filmmakers and photographers Howard and Michele Hall Conservationist Hero of The Year Award Mateus Mutemba, for his extraordinary work with the Gorongosa Restoration Project Save Our Seas® Award Hot Tuna (2012)
Rick Rosenthal Best Cinematography – a tie The Last Lions Dereck and Beverly Joubert, 2011 Best Cinematography – a tie Siberian Tiger Quest Mike Birkhead and Joe Loncraine, 2012 Best ScoreKangaroo Dundee Andrew Graham-Brown, 2013 Best EditingThe Last Lions Dereck and Beverly Joubert, 2011 Sound Design The Last Lions Dereck and Beverly Joubert, 2011 Best FilmThe Last Lions Dereck and Beverly Joubert, 2011 Best in Category: Presenter/HostSiberian Tiger Quest Chris Morgan, 2012 Best in Category: Human/Wildlife Interaction Siberian Tiger Quest Mike Birkhead and Joe Loncraine, 2012 Best in Category: Environmental Wild Things Daniel Hinerfeld and Molly O’Brien, 2013 Best in Category: POV and Conservation Battle for Elephants John Heminway, 2013 Best in Category: Television Program Over $500,000 Cold Warriors: Wolves and Buffalo Jeff Turner, 2013 Best TV Program: $250,000-$500,000 An Original DUCKumentary Ann Johnson Prum, 2012 Best Television Program Under $250,000 Hunting the Ice Whales Max Quinn, 2012 Best TV Series Kangaroo Dundee Andrew Graham-Brown and Tom Mustill, 2013 Best Theatrical Release The Last Lions Dereck and Beverly Joubert, 2011
Watch The Lonely Dodo, an animation starring Stephen Fry from new member the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, which tells the story of the last lonesome bird from Mauritius on a worldwide adventure, looking for hope and friendship!
Since 1991, JHWFF has produced a unique biennial industry conference that draws 650 media professionals, writers, leading scientists and conservationists to Jackson Hole. They converge from around the world to hone skills, explore emerging technologies and market opportunities, network with professional associates and honor notable achievements within the industry. Internationally recognized as the premier event of its genre, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival is an unparalleled industry gathering. Its film competition—a nature film equivalent to the Oscars®—honors top films selected from over 800 category entries.
The open pitching sessions are back due to popular demand. This year filmmakers need to submit their ideas in advance. Only the best proposals will be awarded a slot at the Open Pitching Sessions.
You will have the chance to pitch to some of the top commissioning editors and funders. All documentary formats and all natural history subjects are eligible to submit. Past years’ pitching panels have included commissioning editors from Animal Planet, NHK Japan Broadcasting Corp. , BBC NHU, National Geographic, SABC, NFVF, Smithsonian Networks, NHU Africa and more.
Commissioning editors will critique and comment on each pitch. Who knows, they may be interested?
Date of Placement: July 2013
Placement Location: Bristol
Placement Length: 4 weeks
The BBC Natural History Unit celebrates over 50 years of wildlife documentary making. The team makes natural history programmes for Television, Radio, On-line and more recently new technology such as mobile phone downloads.
They are looking for work experience candidates with a degree in a biological or zoological or related discipline or equivalent.
Congratulations to all the nominees! This year, there were some very hard decisions made by the preliminary jury. Making any kind of decisions were heart wrenching, because of the very high caliber of films we received. So much so that, even if you weren't nominated, we would love to be able to support you through our festival and our organization in any possible way. So, please do feel free to get in touch with us at anytime.
Again, congratulations to all the nominees, and we would like to thank all the entrants, for taking their time and effort for entering their films to our festival this year.
Competing with Canon, Sony and other multi- national companies, Tasmanian film-maker, Pawel Achtel, has just won top prize at a prestigious international award ceremony, held in Las Vegas overnight.
With the Oscars over, the latest inventions in the film industry – the products used to make the movies – take centre stage each year at the huge NAB trade show in Las Vegas, USA. It’s the world’s most prestigious annual show of film and TV technology. And this year two of the nineteen finalists for best invention in film production were the creations of Achtel’s small, Australian company. In an industry dominated by large multi-nationals, his company has produced the most innovative underwater
filming system in years – revolutionary new housings: DeepX and 3Deep® for shooting in 2D and 3D underwater.
“It’s an extraordinary honour,” said Achtel after being told the results from the USA. “I’ve put hundreds of hours of work, and a lot of thought, into designing these new systems for filming underwater. None of the existing equipment did justice to the magic of the underwater world.”
Mashatu Game Reserve is located in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve of Botswana bordering South Africa and is internationally recognized as the “Land of the Giants”, home to the world’s largest mammal – the Elephant, the world’s tallest mammal – the Giraffe, the world’s largest antelope – the Eland, the world’s largest bird – the Ostrich, and the world’s heaviest flying bird – the Kori Bustard. Add the lion – the king of the beasts, and the iconic baobab…and you have Africa’s Big Seven.
Since the late 1990s Wildlife-film.com has been the leading source of information for the wildlife filmmaking industry worldwide. For over twelve years the site has been Google's number one ranking site for 'wildlife film' and related searches. Our site is viewed in over 175 countries. Our newsletter, Wildlife Film News, is read every month by thousands of people involved in wildlife filmmaking - from broadcasters and producers, to cameramen - we encourage readers to submit their news. We also serve as an online resource for industry professionals and services. Find producers, editors, presenters and more in our Freelancer section, and find out about festivals, training and conservation in Organisations. We encourage amateur and professional freelancers to join our network and welcome all wildlife-film related organisations to join our team.
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