JHWFF 2015 Finalists Announced!
From Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
5th August 2015

Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival recognizes 80+ of the best wildlife and nature films.

The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, (JHWFF) the premier event of its genre, has announced the 2015 finalists for its 13th biennial Festival. Winners will be unveiled in Jackson, Wyoming at the Grand Teton Awards Gala on Thursday, October 1st,2015. The awards are one part of a five-day industry conference hosted at the Jackson Lake Lodge in the Grand Teton National Park, September 28-October 2, 2015, that attracts the leading filmmakers, organizations, scientists, broadcasters, and visionaries engaged in conservation and wildlife media. This year’s submissions in the prestigious competition included nearly 1,000 category entries, a record number, competing for 23 special awards. This year’s finalists were selected by over 150 international judges who viewing 3200 hours of media. A distinguished panel of international judges immediately preceding the Festival will select the 2015 award winners. Finalists in Best Sound and Special Consideration will be announced shortly.

Congratulations to the 2015 Finalists!

CONTENT CATEGORIES:

Best Animal Behavior Program

Brothers in Blood: The Lions of Sabi Sand - Aquavision Television Productions
Disneynature Monkey Kingdom - Disneynature/Silverback Films
Life Story – First Steps - BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Worldwide, Discovery, France TV and The Open University

Best Wildlife Habitat Program

Africa’s Giant Killers - Icon Films in association with Natural History Film Unit Botswana, BBC and Animal Planet
Congo - Deep and Dangerous (Ep.1) - Doclights GmbH/NDR Naturfilm; Blue Planet Film, NDR, ARTE, ORF, WDR and National Geographic WILD
Vanishing Kings - A co-production by ORF, Interspot Film, ARTE, Smithsonian Networks, into nature productions and Boksdocs

Best Conservation Program (sponsored by Tangled Bank Studios)

I Bought a Rainforest - KEO Films/The Open University for BBC Two
Racing Extinction - Oceanic Preservation Society, Presented by Okeanos - Foundation for the Sea and the Discovery Channel. In association with Vulcan Productions, Earth Day Texas, JP’s Peace, Love & Happiness Foundation, Diamond Docs, and Insurgent Media
The Messenger - Songbirdsos Productions Inc. and Films À Cinq/ARTE France

Best People & Nature Program (sponsored by The Nature Conservancy)

Wandering Lions of Gujarat promo from Ammonite Films

India’s Wandering Lions - Ammonite Ltd., Kosmik Global Pvt. Ltd., Earth Touch and Discovery Communications India
I Bought a Rainforest - KEO Films/The Open University for BBC Two
Natural World: The Bat Man of Mexico - Tom Mustill/Windfall Films
Racing Extinction - Oceanic Preservation Society, Presented by Okeanos - Foundation for the Sea and the Discovery Channel. In association with Vulcan Productions, Earth Day Texas, JP’s Peace, Love & Happiness Foundation, Diamond Docs, and Insurgent Media

Best Science and Nature Program (Sponsored by Marco Polo Films)

License to Krill - DOX Productions Ltd, Films á Cinq, Arte France
Racing Extinction - Oceanic Preservation Society, Presented by Okeanos - Foundation for the Sea and the Oceanic Preservation Society, Presented by Okeanos - Foundation for the Sea and the Discovery Channel. In association with Vulcan Productions, Earth Day Texas, JP’s Peace, Love & Happiness Foundation, Diamond Docs, and Insurgent Media
THIN ICE—The Inside Story of Climate Science - DOX Productions, Oxford University and Victoria University, Wellington

Conservation Hero (Sponsored by World Wildlife Fund)

The Bat Man of Mexico: Trailer - Natural World - BBC Two from BBC

Natural World: The Bat Man of Mexico - Tom Mustill/Windfall Films
E.O. Wilson—Of Ants and Men - Shining Red Productions, Inc. for PBS
Racing Extinction - Oceanic Preservation Society, Presented by Okeanos - Foundation for the Sea and the Discovery Channel. In association with Vulcan Productions, Earth Day Texas, JP’s Peace, Love & Happiness Foundation, Diamond Docs, and Insurgent Media
Tiger Tiger - George Butler/White Mountain Films

PROGRAM CATEGORIES:

Best Educational/Institutional Program (Sponsored by North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)

An Elephants Tale: The Matriarch - Wildlife Conservation Society
Disneynature Monkey Kingdom - A Conservation Story - Disneynature/Silverback Films
Great Transitions: The Origin of Birds - Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Great Transitions: The Origin of Tetrapods - Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Best Limited Series—Long Form (Sponsored by Universum/ORF)

Hidden Kingdoms - BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Worldwide, Discovery Channel, France TV, CCTV
Life Story - BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Worldwide, Discovery, France TV and The Open University
Your Inner Fish - Tangled Bank Studios, Windfall Films for PBS

Best Limited Series—Short Form

If Not Us Then Who? from Handcrafted Films

If Not Us Then Who? - Handcrafted Films
Deep Look - KQED, PBS Digital Studios
Power of Nature - BBC Earth Productions

Best Children’s Program (Sponsored by Boréales)

Naomi’s Nightmares of Nature Series 2—Central American Coast - BBC
NATURE—A Sloth Named Velcro - BelugaSmile Productions, LLC & THIRTEEN Productions LLC for the PBS Nature series
Secrets of Bumblebees - A co-production by ORF and Power of Earth Productions in association with ORF- Enterprise, bm:ukk and Kultur NÖ
The Marvelous Musical Report (of the Marine National Monuments) - Open Boat Films, LLC, Sisbro Studios

Best Hosted or Presenter-led Program

The Secret Life of Your House from JH Wildlife Film Festival

The Secret Life of Your House - The Garden Productions - Producer/Director: Tony Lee
Presenter: Dr. George McGavin
David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive 3D - Colossus Productions, Sky and Atlantic Productions
Host: David Attenborough
Your Inner Fish, Episode 1 - Tangled Bank Studios, Windfall Films for PBS
Presenter: Neil Shubin

Best Short Program Animated

Life: Pangea - Howard Hughes Medical Institute & Sweet Fern Productions
Galapagos: Nature’s Wonderland - Colossus Productions film in association with SKY 3D
Return of the Cicadas - Samuel Orr

Best Short Short

Elephant’s Tale: Matriarch - Wildlife Conservation Society
Power of Nature: Elephants - BBC Earth Productions
Pygmy Seahorses: Masters of Camouflage - KQED and PBS Digital Studios
Why Bears - Wildlife Media & TriFilm

Best Theatrical Program (Sponsored by Terra Mater)

Disneynature's Monkey Kingdom - Official Trailer from Disney Movie Trailers

Disneynature Monkey Kingdom - Disneynature/Silverback Films
Racing Extinction - Oceanic Preservation Society, Presented by Okeanos - Foundation for the Sea and the Discovery Channel. In association with Vulcan Productions, Earth Day Texas, JP’s Peace, Love & Happiness Foundation, Diamond Docs, and Insurgent Me
Unbranded - Fin & Fur Films, Cedar Creek Productions, Implement Productions

Best Immersive (Sponsored by Sky-Skan)

David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive 3D - Colossus Productions, Sky and Atlantic Productions Habitat Earth - California Academy of Sciences
Humpback Whales - MacGillivray Freeman Films, Pacific Life
Tiny Giants 3D - BBC Earth Productions

Marian Zunz Newcomer

16 Legs: Spider Love - Bookend Trust
Return of the River - Elwafilm LLC
Sirocco—How a Dud Became a Stud - Ashwika Kapur, Centre for Science Communication - Otago University

Best Interactive Media

The ZooMoo App! from ZooMoo English

ZooMoo App - ZooMoo Networks/NHNZ
David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive 3D App - Atlantic Productions
PLUM LANDING - WGBH Educational Foundation
The Evolution Lab - NOVA

CRAFT CATEGORIES:

Best Sound (Sponsored by Dolby Laboratories)
Finalists in this category will be announced shortly.

Best Visualization

The Hidden Kingdoms: Launch Trailer - BBC One from BBC

Hidden Kingdoms—Under Open Skies - BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Worldwide, Discovery Channel, France TV, and CCTV
Cinematography: Rod Clarke, Jonathan Jones, Alastair MacEwen, Mark Payne-Gill and Keith Brust
Life Story—First Steps - BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Worldwide, Discovery, France TV and The Open University
Cinematography: Mateo Willis, Mark Payne-Gill and Jamie McPherson
Wild Yellowstone—Frozen Frontier - Brain Farm Digital Cinema for Nat Geo Wild and Terra Mater Factual Studios
Cinematography: John Shier, Dawson Dunning, Curt Morgan. Aerial Cinematography: Nel Boshoff, Richard Burton, Greg Wheeler, Nick Wolcott; Additional Cinematography: Howard Bourne, Jeff Hogan, Theo Jebb

Best Editing (Sponsored by Sony Electronics)

Jago: A Life Underwater - Underdog Films Production in association with James Morgan Films, Fantomline Pictures and Vistaar Productions
Editor: Sam Rogers
NATURE—Touching the Wild - Passion Planet & THIRTEEN Productions LLC for PBS Nature series
Editor: Charles Davies
Wild Yellowstone—Frozen Frontier - Brain Farm Digital Cinema for Nat Geo WILD and Terra Mater Studios
Editor: James Taggart

Best Original Musical Score

David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive 3D - Colossus Productions, Sky and Atlantic Productions
Composer: Ilan Eshkeri
Disneynature Monkey Kingdom - Disneynature/Silverback Films
Composer: Harry Gregson-Williams
Poached - Ignite Channel and Doc Life Films
Composer: Mark Orton
Wonders of the Monsoon: The Drought - BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Worldwide and Discovery
Composer: Nitin Sawhney

Best Writing

E.O. Wilson—Of Ants and Men - Shining Red Productions, Inc. for PBS
Writer: Graham Townsley
Return of the River - Elwafilm LLC
Writer: Jessica Plumb
Your Inner Fish, Episode 1 - Tangled Bank Studios, Windfall Films for PBS
Writer: David Dugan

Wildlife-film.com congratulates all of the finalsists, especially those of our members that have made the list (in bold above). It's likely members have worked on some of these productions... Let us know if you have!

The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and gala takes place during a week of critical importance in the industry: the Festival, The Elephant Summit and the Conservation Summit. The events of the JHWFF attract a world-class audience and participation from key influencers in the conservation community. Again this year, a series of community screenings in Jackson are planned.

For tickets, sponsorship, or conference attendance, please call +1 307-733-7016 or visit www.jhfestival.org/2015-festival.html

The Festival’s international board members include: Animal Planet, BBC Natural History Unit, Discovery Channel, Disneynature, FujiFilm Optical Devices, Gorongosa Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Tangled Bank Studios, National Geographic Channel International, National Geographic WILD, National Geographic Society, National Parks Conservation Association, The Nature Conservancy, Nature/WNET, Off the Fence Productions, PBS, Sony Electronics, Terra Mater Factual Studios and UNIVERSUM/ORF, Vulcan Productions, WGBH, and World Wildlife Fund.