Paul Reddish who has recently been appointed to lead the National Film and Television School’s (NFTS) new Directing and Producing Natural History and Science MA is part of the team that has won two prestigious Panda Awards for Attenborough’s Life that Glows including the Innovation Award and the Science Award. The Panda Awards took place last night at Colston Hall in Bristol and is part of the Wildscreen festival, which attracts the leading lights of the wildlife film and programme making industry including Sir David Attenborough himself!
Paul came up with the story and wrote the scripts for Attenborough’s Life that Glows, directed by Joe Loncraine, where David Attenborough introduces the perplexing world of glowing fungi and asks, is fungal bioluminescence just a biochemical accident or is there a more important function at play?
The Science Award is given to the production that best furthers human and/or audience knowledge and understanding of the natural world through scientific methodology and discovery.
Paul, who in addition to his new teaching role at the NFTS, has been Producer and Director across a number of high profile natural history films and series including Attenborough in Paradise, The Future is Wild, Hummingbirds Jewelled Messengers, says: “It is an absolute honour to be part of the team that created this engaging new programme; it’s always fantastic to win awards but I am particularly pleased that Life that Glows has won a science award given that I am about to teach directing and producing science documentaries as well as natural history programmes at the NFTS. I love to encourage and mentor new talent and I can’t wait to meet and start working with the students and tutors at such a prestigious institution!”
The Panda Innovation Award is given for outstanding achievement in innovation in natural world storytelling. According to Paul, “Martin Dohrn deserves the most praise for the Innovation Award, as he designed and built the remarkable split-beam low light/IR camera used in the movie.”
For more information on the NFTS two-year Directing and Producing Natural History and Science MA, which starts in January 2017, please visit www.nfts.co.uk
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About the National Film and Television School
The NFTS is one of the world's leading film, games and television schools. It has been cited by some media as one of the top five film schools globally and by one as the No.1 international film school. In 1967, the government recommended the creation of a national film school for the UK and in 1971 the National Film School opened its doors for the first time focussing on postgraduate education. In the 1980s, the school officially changed its name to the National Film and Television School to incorporate the demand for courses in television production and has since added games to its remit.
NFTS prides itself on producing world-class, award-wining industry leaders. It has more Student Academy Awards (Foreign Category) than any other film school. NFTS students and graduates also regularly win BAFTAs and have won the short film category for the last three years. Other prestigious accolades include the Grierson Award for Best Student Documentary, which NFTS students have won for the last three years as well as multiple Royal Television Society student awards and Annecy Animation Awards. NFTS graduates have gone on to win seven Oscars and 100 BAFTAs with alumni including cinematographer, Roger Deakins (12 times Oscar nominee); BAFTA winning director, David Yates, (best known for directing the Harry Potter films); Oscar winning animator Nick Park (creator of Wallace & Gromit) and Oscar winning composer Dario Marianelli among others. The NFTS is a registered charity (313429). For more information see www.nfts.co.uk
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