Wildscreen, the not-for-profit behind the world’s biggest festival of natural history storytelling, today announced the nominees for the 2020 Wildscreen Panda Awards – the highest honour in the international wildlife film and TV content industry.
©National Geographic |
Wildlife documentary thriller SEA OF SHADOWS, from National Geographic Documentary Films leads the way, picking up four nominations out of the nine film categories for Editing, Music, Producer/Director and Sound.
The adrenaline-packed documentary follows a team of dedicated scientists, high-tech conservationists, investigative journalists and courageous undercover agents as well as the Mexican Navy as they put their lives on the line to save the last of the world’s 30 remaining vaquitas and bring a vicious international crime syndicate to justice. |
Silverback Films tops the list as the most nominated production company, securing five nods, including best Scripted Narrative for the soon to released, the 93-year-old broadcaster’s witness statement on the state of the Earth and his vision for the future.
BBC Studios Natural History Unit follows close behind with four nominations, dominating the Series category with DYNASTIES and SEVEN WORLDS, ONE PLANET. |
Seven Worlds One Planet |
STROOP ©Susan Scott |
Films creating impact beyond entertainment stood out for the jury, with SEA OF SHADOWS being joined by STROOP (Producer Director), PENG YU SAI (Emerging Talent) and OUR PLANET (Cinematography) in the nominations.
This was also evident in the Photo Story Award nominees, Brent Stirton’s PANGOLIN IN CRISIS, Joan de la Malla’s MASKED MONKEYS and Audun Rickardsen’s DINNER IS SERVED - all of which shine a light on contemporary conservation issues. |
Jeff Wilson, Chair of the Panda Awards Nomination Jury said: “This year was a bumper year for the Wildscreen Panda Awards, with our 30 nominees standing out amongst nearly 600 entries from over 30 countries. However what was remarkable to me was that, despite COVID19 preventing our international jury of over 30 world-leading broadcasters, producers and craft professional being in the same room as one another, the discussions were as intense, as intelligent and as mind-opening as any jury debates that have gone before.
Across all categories and juries, a clear message from within the industry emerged – at a time when the natural world and the human race are under pressure from global events, our films and teams need to have purpose beyond entertainment. Consistently the Jury’s voted for the films that not only had a creative voice but also that left an indelible impact on audiences. The overwhelming consensus was now, more than ever, our films have to stand above the parapets and be part of the global conversation on the future of our planet.”
Alongside the craft awards, Wildscreen also introduced two new categories this year, recognising the talent of individuals and teams, with best Producer/Director and Production Team.
The 2020 line-up also welcomes productions not pure in their natural history form, including Passion Pictures’ H2O – THE MOLECULE THAT MADE US, securing two nomination for Series and Scripted Narrative and CLOROFILIA, nominated for its fresh fiction-fusion approach and sense of humour from Argentinian production company, PLANTA ALTA, nominated for Emerging Talent. |
H2O - The Molecule that Made Us |
Category sponsors are: Doclights/NDR Naturfilm Producer/Director Panda Award, Dolby Cinematography Panda Award, Dolby Sound Panda Award, Icon Films Emerging Talent Panda Award, and the NHK Scripted Narrative Panda Award.
The winners will be announced on 22 October at the Panda Awards Celebration, during the first ever virtual edition of the Wildscreen Festival. Wildscreen announced back in May that it would taking the industry-leading event online, seizing the opportunity to make it the most inclusive and accessible Festival in its 38-year history.
Three-month industry passes are on sale now at £125, with concessions offered at £50. Tickets can be purchased here.
And the Panda Awards nominees are...
Wildscreen Panda Awards 2020
Nominations List:
DOLBY CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARD
My Octopus Teacher
Sea Change Project and Off the Fence; A Netflix Original Production
Underwater photography by: Roger Horrocks, Craig Foster
Aerials: Tom Foster
Topside photography: Warren Smart
Additional photography: Pippa Ehrlich, Dave Aenmae
South Africa |
My Octopus Teacher ©Tom Foster |
Dynasties: Chimpanzee
BBC Studios NHU, BBC America, Tencent, France Télévisions and CCTV9
Photography by: John Brown, Mark MacEwen
United Kingdom
Our Planet: One Planet
Silverback Films with WWF for Netflix
Photography by Jamie McPherson, Roger Horrocks, John Aitchison, Paul Stewart, Gavin Thurston, Warwick Sloss, Mateo Willis, Sophie Darlington, Matt Aeberhard
United Kingdom
EDITING AWARD
Sea of Shadows
Terra Mater Factual Studios in association with Appian Way, Malaika Pictures, The Wild Lens Collective for National Geographic Documentary Films
Editors: Georg Michael Fischer & Verena Schönauer
Austria
Wild Cuba: A Caribbean Journey
Crossing the Line Productions for ORF, BBC, RTÉ, France Télévisions, WNET Thirteen, PBS, ORF Enterprises
Editor: Jamie Fitzpatrick
Ireland
Disneynature Penguins
Silverback Films for Disneynature
Editor: Andy Netley
United Kingdom
ICON FILMS EMERGING TALENT AWARD
Andrés Sehinkman, Jonathan Barg, Leandro Vital, Armin Marchesini Weihmuller and Ailín Salas
For the film Clorofilia Planta Alta
Argentina |
Clorofilia ©Planta Alta |
George Pretty
For the film Life on the Rocks
The National Film & Television School
United Kingdom
Malaika Vaz and Nitye Sood
For the film Peng Yu Sai
Untamed Planet
India
MUSIC AWARD
Sea of Shadows
Terra Mater Factual Studios in association with Appian Way, Malaika Pictures, The Wild Lens Collective for National Geographic Documentary Films
Music by: H. Scott Salinas
Austria
Disneynature Penguins
Silverback Films for Disneynature
Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams
United Kingdom
Dancing with the Birds
Silverback Films for Netflix
Music by: David Mitcham
United Kingdom
PHOTO STORY AWARD
Pangolins in Crisis
Brent Stirton
South Africa |
Pangolin ©Brent Stirton |
Masked Monkeys
Joan de la Malla
Spain |
The Sad Clown ©Joan de la Malla |
Dinner is served
Audun Rikardsen
Norway |
Chasing the one that got away ©Audun Rikardsen |
PRODUCTION TEAM AWARD
Earth from Space: A New Perspective
BBC Studios Natural History Unit, PBS and The Open University
United Kingdom
Lost Kings of Bioko
GULO Film Productions and Doclights GmbH / NDR Naturfilm for NDR, WDR, ARTE, ORF, SVT, Smithsonian Channel
Germany
Night on Earth: Dusk till Dawn
Plimsoll Productions for Netflix
United Kingdom
DOCLIGHTS / NDR NATURFILM PRODUCER DIRECTOR AWARD
Richard Ladkani, Walter Köhler and Wolfgang Knöpfler
For the film Sea of Shadows
Terra Mater Factual Studios in association with Appian Way, Malaika Pictures, The Wild Lens Collective for National Geographic Documentary Films
Austria
Craig Foster, Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed
For the film My Octopus Teacher
Sea Change Project and Off the Fence; A Netflix Original Production
South Africa
Bonné de Bod and Susan Scott
For the film STROOP – Journey into the Rhino Horn War
SDBFilms
South Africa
NHK SCRIPTED NARRATIVE AWARD
H20: The Molecule That Made Us
Passion Planet Ltd and WGBH Boston for PBS
Script by: Nicolas Brown, Alex Tate
United Kingdom
Savage Kingdom
Icon Films in association with Natural History Film Unit Botswana for National Geographic
Script by: Andy Mitchell
United Kingdom
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
Silverback Films and WWF for Netflix
Script by: David Attenborough with Jonnie Hughes
United Kingdom |
David Attenborough a life on our planet © Joe Fereday |
SERIES AWARD
Dynasties
BBC Studios NHU, BBC America, Tencent, France Télévisions and CCTV9
United Kingdom
Seven Worlds, One Planet
BBC Studios Natural History Unit, BBC America, France Televisions, ZDF, Tencent Penguin Pictures and China Media Group CCTV9
United Kingdom
H2O: The Molecule that Made Us
Passion Planet Ltd and WGBH Boston for PBS
United Kingdom
DOLBY SOUND AWARD
Sea of Shadows
Terra Mater Factual Studios in association with Appian Way, Malaika Pictures, The Wild Lens Collective for National Geographic Documentary Films
Sound by: Bernhard Zorzi, Michael Plöderl, Bernd Dormayer, Roland Winkler, Bernd Mazagg
Austria
The Flood
Icon Films in association with Natural History Film Unit Botswana for National Geographic
Sound by: Richard Lambert, Roy Noy
United Kingdom
Wild Shetland
Maramedia Ltd for BBC Scotland
Sound by: Kate Hopkins, Owen Shirley & Mitch Dorf, Ben Peace, Wounded Buffalo
United Kingdom
The coveted Panda Awards ... Everyone wants that Golden Panda!
See: Wildscreen Festival 2020 goes virtual & Wildscreen Panda Awards 2018 Winners Announced!
Follow etc: facebook.com/wildscreenfest & twitter.com/WildscreenFest + instagram.com/wildscreenorg
Wildscreen is an award-winning not-for-profit conservation organisation. 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:
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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.
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Wildscreen Festival - the internationally renowned festival that celebrates and advances the art of natural world storytelling. The Wildscreen Festival takes place from the 19 -23 October 2020, supported by a three-month online film library from September to December.
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Natural History Network - a membership organisation for the international wildlife film industry with over 380+ individual members and 25+ production and kit company members.
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. www.wildscreen.org |
