 Wildlife Film News
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Welcome to the 150th Edition of Wildlife Film News!! As this newsletter continues to grow in popularity, this year we plan to expand the Wildlife-film.com directories to include many more members and increased features... We are very happy to announce the addition of the following new members this month... We are already off to a smashing start! Warmest welcomes to: An exciting addition to our training section: Our two new equipment companies: A fantastic conservation film project: Our three new production companies: And a whole host of Freelancers: |
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New 'Features Page' - Stories from around the wildlife film-making world! So that we can publish extended stories and case studies from our subscribers/members etc, too large for the newsletter and the home page, we've decided to create a new 'Features Page' to accommodate them... Our subscribers can submit their stories, reviews, articles, blog entries, opinions on wildlife film-making matters etc and we will try to make sure they are seen by the engaged wider community... As with news items in this newsletter, full members will, of course, get priority on their submissions! The page is being launched with a story courtesy of our brand new member Polecam... Written by Nancy Cavill... IT was just before Christmas when cameraman Chris Taber got a call offering him a wildlife shoot in Africa. It seemed an opportunity too good to turn down – the kind of job that memories are made of. And that’s the way it turned out, although not for the reasons he’d anticipated... Intrigued? Carry on reading here... |
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Wildlife Film-making: Looking to the Future – Reviewed by our competition winner, Nick Wilcox-Brown Back in October 2011, when we launched Piers Warrens' new book Wildlife Film-making: Looking to the Future, we ran an eBook competition, won by Nick Wilcox-Brown and he has been kind enough to take the time to write a comprehensive review, so here it is: "The wildlife film industry is in flux; new formats, increasing democratisation of the media and ever shrinking budgets. Add to this ongoing discussions about conservation versus wildlife film, corporate and celebrity sponsorship and there is plenty to talk about. Looking to the Future presents a well balanced collection of opinions from a diverse range of people. From the forward by Neil Nightingale, Creative Director of BBC Earth, to Alex Rhodes, a 15-year old aspiring Wildlife film-maker from Bristol, the result is a very readable book that presents a snap shot of the industry, seen from the very different perspectives of nearly 60 people working in the industry, across the globe. This book has been cleverly edited to include so many opinions; Jackson Xu speaks of the emerging wildlife film industry in China, Neil Harraway of the changes in demand for New Zealand’s NHNZ productions and Sophie Vartan on 3D production in South Africa. Henrik Ekman, Acquisitions Executive from SVT in Sweden is optimistic about the changes technology is bringing and the fact that even the smallest productions can meet the technical demands of broadcasters.There are discussions from others on tapeless cameras, high speed cameras for slow motion, DSLRs for low budgets and mini cameras for new PoVs, all at reduced cost from the days of film. Increasingly, multi-skilled is becoming the norm and from the days of “Five-man wildlife film crew, 30 pieces of luggage” described by Richard Brock, 1 man production and YouTube is increasingly possible as is so clearly illustrated by Patrick Rouxel’s powerful ‘Green’. The case for big budget ‘Blue Chips’ is made by several people, especially in connection with the increasingly popular 3D medium, but the talk is of cooperation, distribution and money, the importance not only of broadcast sales, but of DVD and download sales, something that was not even factored into budgets 10 years ago. Some of those features had a relatively easy entry into the industry, while others have made substantial sacrifices, giving up well paid positions to get a foothold on the ladder. What shines through clearly from those featured is the passion for animals, for wild places and the art of storytelling This is a book that is packed with information and one read is probably not going to be enough. Thoroughly recommended! Nick Wilcox-Brown, aspiring wildlife film-maker, January 2012. Inspired, Nick has just signed up as a member... You can buy the book here!!!!! |
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IWFF Call for Entries Late Deadline - 9th February 2012 2012 Timeline of International Wildlife Films Judging Process – See Call for Entries Packet for full descriptions.
For further information: |
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Wildlife-film.com joins forces with UDENA We are very happy to announce that we have sponsored UDENA, the Latin American and Spanish Natural History Unit, and they are now listed under both Production Companies and Location managers/Fixers, as is their expertise, so should you ever want help with a production in Latin America, Spain and beyond, you know where to go! "Latin America and Spain share strong cultural and linguistic bonds, as well as unique respective environmental heritages, with Latin America as the continent with the greatest biodiversity on earth and Spain the country with the greatest biodiversity in Europe.Our mission at UDENA Natural History Unit is to bring together the experts (naturalists and filmmakers) of each Ibero-American region with the aim of disseminating the natural history of their countries throughout the world via the medium of natural history documentaries." |
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AU’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking
Tuesday, February 7 at 7 pm – Shark Week with Executive Producer Brooke Runnette
Free and Open to the Public
– No Reservation Required
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Farewell Anglia Television: Last Survival Link Broken as Norwich Production Ends!! ITV has announced that all television production at Anglia House - other than regional news - is to cease within the next few months, bringing to an end a distinguished record of 53 years of programme-making. Anglia Television, Survival’s nurturing and dedicated parent for four decades, effectively ceased to exist a number of years ago but a production base was maintained in Norwich under the auspices of ITV Studios, making factual content for the network and other broadcasters. There was optimism that ITV still saw a future for the operation in Norwich when, in 2006, it announced the return of wildlife programming to the Anglia studios, along with the re-location of the Granada Wild film library, including the Survival and Partridge catalogues. In 2009, ITV resurrected the Survival title with three shows featuring leopards, bears and wolves hosted by Ray Mears, and last year it screened another Norwich-produced series Survival - Tales From the Wild, created from the Survival archive. Other shows produced in Norwich included Wild Britain with Ray Mears and Safari Vet School for ITV, along with several Animal Cops series made for Discovery’s Animal Planet channel. The Survival archive has also been used in the compilation of a new wildlife video website, itvWILD. ITV has now decided, however, that not enough programmes are being made at Anglia House to be able to continue funding a base there. A spokeswoman said: “As part of the ITV Transformation Plan, ITV Studios is going through a period of change, including ensuring all of our operations are as efficient as possible. “Unfortunately our production volume in Norwich is no longer at the level necessary to sustain the overheads and investment needs of this regional production office. “This has led to the decision to close ITV Studios’ Norwich-based production operation in the first half of this year. During the coming weeks we will be working with the (35) staff affected by this change to discuss potential opportunities elsewhere in the business. The Anglia news operation is not affected by this decision and we remain committed to regional production." The future for ITV wildlife programming remains unclear as a result of the decision. The spokeswoman said that if affected programmes were re-commissioned, production was likely to be switched to London or Manchester. (Hardly a ringing commitment). Likewise the itvWILD website, while set to continue for the time being, must have a question mark over its future in the longer term. The closure also throws into question the future of Anglia House, the former Agricultural Hall that has been Anglia’s iconic Norwich HQ since 1959. Regional news operates mainly from the adjacent Townshend House, and ITV’s cost-saving move will doubtless see it divest itself of the old building at the earliest opportunity. Anglia took out a 75-year lease on the Hall from Norwich City Council in 1958. In its Saturday edition, the Eastern Daily Press carried this fond look back: edp24.co.uk (Tom Walshe) |
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Latest addition to the Films That Make a Difference Database – Turkeys' Sea Turtles in Trouble Turkey's Sea Turtles in Trouble, filmed by Richard Brock during September 2009, visits the sea turtle nesting beaches of Dalyan, Iztuzu, Fethiye, Çalis, Yaniklar, Yonca, Akgöl and Sarigerme in Turkey. The aim of this film was to highlight the successful implementation of conservation measures at Dalyan, while at the same time drawing the viewers attention to the lack of protection at the important neighbouring nesting beaches, many of which are also designated as Specially Protected Areas. Unplanned construction and developments to accommodate tourism, lack of regulation enforcement and non-implementation of conservation measures, pose a serious threat to sea turtle nesting. In contrast to Dalyan, a balance between environmental protection and (sustainable) development has yet to be established, with the endangered sea turtles being the victims. A dramatic drop in nesting at Fethiye had already been documented, indicating poor sea turtle conservation measures in this region. The film was produced to complement MEDASSET's campaign calling for protection of the nesting beaches at Fethiye and it turns out to be a film that really has made a difference! Check it out here, 'Like' us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter & please send your films/suggestions! |
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Desert Island Discs: Sir David Attenborough Kirsty Young's castaway for the 70th anniversary edition of Desert Island Discs is Sir David Attenborough. He has seen more of the world than anyone else who has ever lived - he's visited the north and south poles and witnessed most of the life in-between - from the birds in the canopies of tropical rainforests to giant earthworms in Australia. But despite his extraordinary travels, there is one part of the globe that's eluded him. As a young man and a keen rock-climber, he yearned to conquer the highest peak in the world. "I won't make it now - I won't make it to base camp now - but as a teenager, I thought that the only thing a red-blooded Englishman really should do was to climb Everest." Well worth a listen if you can: http://bbc.in/wd46OO Sir David was also on The Jonathan Ross Show recently for a somewhat more comical affair involving penguins and Harry Potter! http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=302560 |
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Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital Celebrates its 20th Anniversary in Washington, D.C. – March 13-25 Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, Academy Award-nominated director Lucy Walker, ocean advocate Alexandra Cousteau, eco filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia, animator Bill Plympton, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jessica Yu and pioneering director Perry Miller Adato are among the renowned filmmakers who will present their films at the 20th anniversary Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital. The Festival will show over 160 films from March 13-25 at over 65 venues across the Washington, D.C. area. The critical relationship between health and the environment will be a special focus of the 2012 Festival. Most films, which are screened at museums, embassies, universities, and local theaters, are offered free of charge and include discussions with filmmakers and scientists. Ken Burns will present a sneak preview with clips from his upcoming film, “The Dust Bowl,” providing an intimate look at those most affected by the severe dust storms of the southern plains in the 1930s. Lucy Walker will host a retrospective of her films, including her latest film, “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.” Alexandra Cousteau will share clips from her new film, “Expedition Blue Planet” that focus on the Potomac River. Deborah Koons Garcia will draw on cutting-edge science and ancient knowledge in her film, “Symphony of the Soil,” highlighting the miraculous organism that is soil, an often overlooked protagonist of our planetary story. Perry Miller Adato will present her new film, “Paris – The Luminous Years” about the Modernist art movement of the early 20th century in Paris. The Washington, D.C. Premiere of the film, “Switch: Discovering Our Energy Future” with filmmaker Harry Lynch will explore what it will take to make the switch from traditional energy sources to new, clean energy. This film will kick off the Festival on opening night, March 13,along with a Memorial Tribute to Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. The Washington, D.C. premiere of “A Fierce Green Fire,” (a Sundance premiere) covering the history of the environmental movement, from conservation to global warming, will close the Festival on March 25. Additional film highlights will include the D.C. Premiere of “Cape Spin: A Power Struggle” about the decade-long battle over a wind farm in Nantucket Sound; “The City Dark,” exploring the effects of light pollution and the disappearing night sky on people and the planet; “Taste the Waste,” exposing the extreme waste in world food systems; “John Muir in the New World,” documenting the life of this remarkable naturalist, preservationist, explorer, author and activist; “The Man Who Stopped the Desert,” the story of African peasant farmer Yacouba Sawadogo of Burkina Faso, who perfected an ancient farming technique now internationally recognized for its success in reversing desertification; “Cane Toads,” a comic account of Australia’s most notorious environmental blunder, the introduction of cane toads from Hawaii, to control the beetles decimating Queensland’s sugar cane crops; and “The Last Reef 3D,” an IMAX film, shot on the world’s first underwater 3D digital beamsplitter rig, offering the opportunity, for the first time ever, to see diverse and colorful underwater life on a tropical reef at the macro level in 3D. Winners from the 2011 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival will also be shown. Over the past 19 years, the Environmental Film Festival has developed into one of the world’s largest showcases of environmental film and a major collaborative cultural event in Washington, D.C. For a complete schedule of the 20th anniversary Festival’s offerings, visit the Festival Web site, www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org, in February or call +1 202 342 2564 to request a printed Festival program. |
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Short Wildlife films needed for BBC Big Screen at the Bristol Festival of Nature (June 16th-17th) Throughout the festival we will be using the BBC's 'Big Screen' in Millennium Square to showcase natural history filmmaking from around the south west. |
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Frozen Planet cameraman Doug Allan's life in pictures Doug Allan, a cameraman for Frozen Planet, has filmed wildlife throughout the world. In a new book he explains why the polar regions are his favourite places... "There’s no simple reason. I guess I’m more at home in cold environments than hot ones." Doug’s book, Freeze Frame (£25), will be available from early February on his website: www.dougallan.com. |
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Some wildlife films from Alaska!! One of our subscribers, David Rice, alerted us to his work... Why not take a look at a few: |
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Exclusive HD Footage of Remote China added to NHNZ Moving Images NHNZ Moving Images has added to its archive 300 remarkable HD clips from the outer reaches of China. |
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EIA's Powerful "Hunt for the Whalers" If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIA) video “Hunt for the Whalers” is worth millions . It’s one thing to talk about the brutality of hunting fin whales in the North Atlantic. It is another thing to see the reality of these magnificent animals being dragged from the water into the Icelandic whaling station and butchered right before your eyes. And at the center of this barbarism – caught on camera -- is Kristjian Loftsson, owner of the Icelandic whaling company Hvalur. Whatever reason for slaughtering these massive whales there may once have been, there is none today. No market for the meat. No legal right to trade. And no legal or moral basis for the senseless destruction of these endangered animals – among the largest on the planet, the so-called greyhound of the sea for their speed, larger than two school busses lined up end to end. EIA’s film is understated and compelling, with an investigative story-line – tracking the illegally hunted meat from Iceland to the markets of Japan. But nowhere is its impact greater than in the video documenting the modern, 21st century whaling station and the activities of its employees, overseen by Loftsson, as they unload their cargo and wield their knives. President Obama did the right thing in certifying Iceland for its activities in derogation of the IWC Convention and CITES. That was a necessary first step. But Loftsson has already stated his intention to resume the fin whale hunt next season. As EIA has so graphically documented, none of us can rest until the killing is stopped. Take action now. |
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Saving Rhino Phila in the news – NHU Africa Saving Rhino Phila is one of the latest productions to come out of NHU Africa in 2011. It tackles the sensitive and highly controversial subject of rhino poaching, and offers a touching story of one rhino, Phila, surviving repeated attempts on her life. NHU Africa’s Comissioning Editor and Creative Director Vyv Simson says about the film “We were aiming to take a well-known issue and tell it in a new way as a personal story.” See the article from the Cape Times For more info' on the movie email info@nhuafrica.com or call +27 (0)21 422 0023 |
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NaturVision Call for Entries What is currently happening in the area of nature films? As every year, we are looking forward to your entries with great curiosity and suspense!
We welcome all films with a focus on nature, wildlife, the environment and/or sustainability that were completed after January 1, 2011. Films addressing children and youths are, of course, also welcome.
Please note: everyone entering a film must decide himself in which category or categories the film is to be submitted.
The following applies to pupils and students: if you are interested in the competition and submit a film exclusively in the category for newcomers and amateurs, you will not be charged an entry fee.
More detailed information at:
www.natur-vision.de We ask anyone entering a film to please register on our website. Please pass this information on to others who might be interested. Entries must be received by April 9, 2012 |
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CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR CINEXTUR The second edition of CINEXTUR will takeplace in Cáceres, Spain, from 10th to 12th of MAY, 2012. CONSULT THE REGULATIONS AND SUBMIT YOUR FILM ON-LINE : www.cinextur.com CONTACT
CINEXTUR “International Nature Tourism Film Festival”
Cáceres, SPAIN |
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Have a listen to The Tank Bangers – The worlds' first underwater band! Through the mediums of music, film and comedy - The Tank Bangers aim to unite marine focused conservation groups and research initiatives around the world. Together we can shout a louder message that warns against the continued mistreatment of our world. Website: www.thetankbangers.org |
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Please send in YOUR news for the next issue to the editor: info@wildlife-film.com |
Disclaimer: Wildlife Film News publishes information and opinions as a service to its readers. |
