Wildscreen 2018 Panda Award Nominees Announced from Wildscreen
5 July 2018
Wildscreen, the not-for-profit behind the world’s biggest festival of natural history storytelling, today announced the nominees for the 2018 edition of international wildlife film, TV and content industry’s highest honour - the Wildscreen Panda Awards.
The ocean epic, BLUE PLANET II, leads the nominations picking up seven nods for the world-renowned BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit, in recognition of its stunning cinematography and never-before-seen animal behaviour. Keo Films’ RISE OF THE WARRIOR APES, which brings a gripping investigative approach to natural history documentary, follows closely with five nominations, topping the craft categories for its technical excellence.
Intimate personal stories and the use of authentic voices, with them being integral to the over-arching narratives of a production, is a standout theme across the 17 categories. The expert testimony and passion of scientists is central to many productions including JANE and ONE STRANGE ROCK.
“Humanity’s relationships and interactions with the natural world is what truly stood out amongst the nominees this year”, said Lucie Muir, Wildscreen CEO. “We’re at a point in our history where we either choose to protect nature or we all suffer the consequences. Storytelling is a powerful tool for positive change and it was so encouraging to see a particularly strong field in the Impact award category in 2018. It was so strong in fact, that we took the decision to double the number of nominees, creating two sub-categories – small and large budget – recognising that big impacts and change is possible on any budget. These stories share hope and optimism for the future of our natural world and our place within it.”
Wildscreen CEO, Lucie Muir
The 2018 line-up also sees the first ever VR contender in the Awards’ 36 year history, with THE PROTECTORS receiving a nomination for the Innovation Award.
Oscar-winning Dame Judi Dench’s, MY PASSION FOR TREES, sees her nominated for the Presenter Award alongside Chris Packham and BBC wildlife cameraman, Vianet Djenguet.
The shortlist features productions from 12 countries, including Qatar for the first time, with each of the 37 nominees standing out amongst nearly 800 entries to Wildscreen’s international jury of more than 40 world-leading producers, broadcasters and craft professionals. But it’s not just the industry that decides the outstanding productions of the past two years. The Children’s Panda Award nominees were chosen by a 30-strong jury of 8-12 years olds from Easton in Bristol and a school in León, Mexico.
The winners will be revealed at the Panda Awards Ceremony which will take place on 19 October at The Passenger Shed, Brunel’s Old Station, in Bristol. The gala is the climax to the Wildscreen Festival, the biggest global gathering of natural world storytellers, which sees over 900 of the world’s leading filmmakers, photographers, broadcasters and content creators convene in Bristol for a week of business, film premieres and an unrivalled programme of 120+ hours of content from more than 150 speakers from across the globe.
Wildscreen Panda Awards in 2018 Nominations
ORF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR AWARD
Blue Planet II - One Ocean
BBC Studios - The Natural History Unit, The Open University, BBC Worldwide, Tencent, BBC America, France Televisions and CCTV9
United Kingdom
The Lions Rule - Death in the Glade
A Terra Mater Factual Studios production in co-production with Doclights / NDR Naturfilm and National Geographic Channel in association with ARTE France / Unité Découverte et Connaissance and Shibumi Films
Austria
The Zoo - Poo Dunnit?
BBC Studios - The Natural History Unit for CBBC, DHX
United Kingdom
PANASONIC CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARD
LARGE BUDGET:
Attenborough’s Ant Mountain
A production of Terra Mater Factual Studios in association with BBC and ABC Australia produced by Ammonite Ltd
Austria
Photography by: Martin Dohrn & Jack Hynes
Blue Planet II - One Ocean
BBC Studios - The Natural History Unit, The Open University, BBC Worldwide, Tencent, BBC America, France Televisions and CCTV9
United Kingdom
Photography by: Alfredo Barroso, Chris Bryan, Patrick Dykstra, Tom Fitz, Ted Giffords, Steve Hathaway, Roger Horrocks, Roger Munns, Didier Noirot, David Reichert, Nuno Sá & Gavin Thurston
Blue Planet II - Our Blue Planet
BBC Studios - The Natural History Unit, The Open University, BBC Worldwide, Tencent, BBC America, France Televisions and CCTV9
United Kingdom
The Last Animals Atlas Films and Foxtail Entertainment in association with Artemis Rising Foundation, The British Film Company and Diamond Docs
United States
Norway's Magical Fjords nautilusfilm GmbH - Natural History Germany in collaboration with Doclights GmbH/NDR Naturfilm for NDR, ARTE, ORF, SVT
Germany
Music by: Jörg Magnus Pfeil & Siggi Mueller
One Strange Rock - Gasp
Nutopia Ltd for National Geographic
United Kingdom
Music by: Daniel Pemberton
PEOPLE AND NATURE AWARD
H is for Hawk: A New Chapter
A Mike Birkhead Associates production, co-produced with Thirteen Productions LLC and BBC Natural World in association with WNET
United Kingdom
Jane
National Geographic Studios in association with Public Road Productions for National Geographic
United States
Blue Planet II - One Ocean
BBC Studios - The Natural History Unit, The Open University, BBC Worldwide, Tencent, BBC America, France Televisions and CCTV9
United Kingdom
My Congo BBC Studios Natural World – a co-production of BBC and Thirteen Productions LLC in association with WNET
United Kingdom
Presented by: Vianet Djenguet
The Real T. rex with Chris Packham Talesmith and Cineflix Productions in association with France Télévisions for BBC & CBC
United Kingdom / Canada
Presented by: Chris Packham
Blue Planet II
BBC Studios - The Natural History Unit, The Open University, BBC Worldwide, Tencent, BBC America, France Televisions and CCTV9
United Kingdom
The Lions Rule
A Terra Mater Factual Studios production in co-production with Doclights / NDR Naturfilm and National Geographic Channel in association with ARTE France / Unité Découverte et Connaissance and Shibumi Films
Austria
Planet Earth II
BBC Studios - The Natural History Unit, BBC America, ZDF and France Télévisions
United Kingdom
NHNZ SHORT AWARD
Blood Island
Lindsey Parietti in association with the University of the West of England
United Kingdom
Blue Planet II - Coral Reefs
BBC Studios - The Natural History Unit, The Open University, BBC Worldwide, Tencent, BBC America, France Televisions and CCTV9
United Kingdom
Sound by: Graham Wild, Kate Hopkins & Tim Owens
H is for Hawk: A New Chapter A Mike Birkhead Associates production, co-produced with Thirteen Productions LLC and BBC Natural World in Association with WNET
United Kingdom
Sound by: Graham Wild, David Yepp & Ewan Dryburgh
Queen without Land
Produced by Artic Light AS, in association with NRK, Doclights / NDR Naturfilm, ORF, SVT, France 3 and Smithsonian Channel
Norway
The Serengeti Rules
HHMI Tangled Bank Studios & Passion Planet
United Kingdom / United States
The winners of the 2018 Wildscreen Panda Awards will be presented at the Panda Awards Ceremony on Friday 19 October 2018 at Passenger Shed, Bristol, UK. In addition to the above awards, Wildscreen will also present the Golden Panda Award for overall best production, and the Outstanding Achievement Award which is given to an individual in recognition of their significant contribution to wildlife filmmaking, conservation and the public’s understanding of the environment.
On their nominations ...
Julian Hector, Head of BBC Studios' Natural History said:
“Wildscreen is the most prestigious natural history film festival in the world and I’m incredibly proud the judges felt the work of the Natural History Unit merited such accolade to be nominated across so many categories. Recognition like this is not just good for my department it’s good for the city of Bristol; the global capital of wildlife film making where so many natural history production companies are based.”
James Reed, Director, Rise of the Warrior Apes:
“It is such amazing news for us. Everybody in the Warrior Apes team put their heart and soul into this production and it's great to be recognised in such a broad range of categories. All the way through people seemed to really connect with this film and I think that's down to something very simple - it's a great story. As a filmmaker that's the best place to start from and it's amazing how easily everything else comes together when you start with a great story.
Also, having the scientists tell their own story gives the film real authenticity. Some of the things that have happened with the Ngogo chimpanzees over the last 25 years are pretty unbelievable. Using the scientists own footage, and their voices to tell the story, gives the film the credibility it deserves.”
Congratulations to all Wildlife-film.com member nominations listed in bold above! :)
Wildscreen is an award-winning wildlife conservation charity. Our goal is to convene the world’s best filmmakers and photographers with the most committed conservationists to create compelling stories about the natural world and so inspire the wider public to experience it, feel part of it and protect it. We are powered by an ecosystem of projects:
Wildscreen Arkive - the world’s leading online natural world encyclopaedia;
Wildscreen Exchange - a unique global hub, empowering conservation organisations by connecting them with world-leading filmmakers and photographers to create ground- breaking communications about our natural world.
Wildscreen Festival - the internationally renowned festival that celebrates and advances the art of natural world storytelling. The next Festival takes place from the 15-19 October 2018.
Wildscreen is based in Bristol, UK – the south west of England city nicknamed ‘Green Hollywood’ because it produces more natural history film and TV than any other city in the world.
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