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Matisse Bustos Hawkes

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Meg Ward

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Brooklyn-based human rights organization scoops prestigious Panda Award

A Brooklyn-based international human rights organization has scooped a key award at the prestigious international Wildscreen Panda Awards – the Oscars of the wildlife film industry, which took place last night in Bristol, England.

The Campaign Award was given to WITNESS in co-production with Our Children's Trust & the iMatter Campaign, for their film Stories of TRUST: Calling for Climate Recovery, Part 3: TRUST Alaska. Speaking about TRUST Alaska, John Waters, chair of the judging panel said: “It was moving to hear from a young person, getting his side of the story from the front line of climate change. The narrator’s personality and young age should, we hope, mobilise similar age groups and inspire others in remote communities to tell their stories too.” The Panda Awards are the centrepiece of this week’s Wildscreen Festival, the leading bi-annual natural history film event now in its 30th year.

In addition to the 21 award categories, there are two awards that cannot be entered: the Golden Panda and the Outstanding Achievement Award. These two awards are considered to be the highest accolades a natural history filmmaker can achieve. This year the Golden Panda, which is given to the best overall production, went to My Life as a Turkey by Passion Pictures, commissioned by the BBC Natural History Unit & PBS. The film also took the Discovery People and Nature Award. Presented by Sir David Attenborough, the Outstanding Achievement Award which is given to an organisation or individual that has made a globally significant contribution to wildlife filmmaking, conservation and/or the public’s understanding of the environment went to Alastair Fothergill.

Wildscreen Festival is the leading bi-annual wildlife and environmental film event and attracted a record number of visitors this year. Over 700 delegates attended the festival and so far an estimated 1000 members of the public have attended the free events organised at part of the Wildscreen Fringe Festival, which will continue for another week.

59 films were shortlisted for the 21 award categories from a record number of 491 entries from 46 countries. The shortlist was whittled down by an international panel of industry experts and the winner’s were then selected by Annette Scheurich (Marco Polo Film AG), John Waters (Director/Cameraman & nominated for an EMMY for his work on Meerkat Manor), Steve Burns (Rollercoaster Road Studios), Tommy Garnett (Environment Foundation for Africa & IUCN CEC), Masaru Ikeo (NHK Media Technology Inc) and Perrine Poubeau (France 5).

Richard Edwards, Chief Executive of Wildscreen said: ‘This has been the Festival’s most successful year since it started 30 years ago. We’ve had more entrants from a wider range of countries around the world than ever before. We also had the highest number of films from new entrants. It’s clear that passion for natural history filming is thriving.’ Members of the public can watch a selection of the nominated films for free at Watershed in Bristol, England until Friday 26 October.

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For more information please contact Dani Marlborough at Spirit Public Relations on 0117 944 1415 or e-mail dmarlborough@spiritpublicrelations.co.uk

The full shortlist of nominees for Panda Awards 2012 is available here: http://www.wildscreenfestival.org/index.php?pageid=400&parentid=368

The Panda Awards are the key event of the biannual Wildscreen Film Festival which was founded in 1982 in Bristol by natural history greats Sir Peter Scott, Christopher Parsons OBE and Lord Aubrey Buxton. This year, for the first time, the industry festival supported its first fringe festival which included a host of free events for the public. These include screenings of the nominated films at The Watershed until Saturday 26 October. Details are here http://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/calendar/