Wildscreen Festival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Wildscreen Festival is an international festival of film, television and digital media inspired by nature and natural places. It is staged every two years in Bristol, UK – the city that is said to produce more hours of wildlife programming than anywhere else in the world.
The festival began in 1982 to encourage and reward excellence in wildlife film-making, and to provide a showcase for new productions. In 1994, it merged with a biennial wildlife symposium, previously held in the neighbouring city of Bath.
As a result of the merger, and other developments, the festival has grown both in scale and stature. Film screenings are now complemented by seminars, training events, demonstrations of equipment and a trade fair. In addition, the festival’s ability to attract programme-makers, distributors and broadcasters from many different countries, means it is one of the foremost international market places for natural history productions, ideas, skills and services.
The centrepiece of each Wildscreen Festival is the awards ceremony when the best new natural history productions, skills and talent compete for the Panda Awards, known informally as the ‘Green Oscars’.
Another regular feature is the Sir Peter Scott Lecture – named in honour of the event’s co-founder. For the lecture, a leading scientist or conservationist is invited to address delegates and guests on an issue of contemporary environmental concern. Recent Scott lecturers have included Sylvia Earle, Jane Goodall, Robert May, and E.O. Wilson.
The festival is an initiative of The Wildscreen Trust, an educational charity working globally to promote the conservation of nature and the public’s appreciation of biodiversity through wildlife imagery. Other related initiatives are ARKive, a centralised collection of films and photographs of endangered species which can be accessed free of charge by an award-winning website, and WildFilmHistory, a wildlife film-making archive that is being developed for launch in 2007 with a mission to locate and conserve films, photographs, publications and memories related to the history and development of the wildlife film industry worldwide.
