Bristol-based charity Wildscreen, has announced the nominees for the Wildscreen Panda Awards 2024 – the highest honour in the international natural world storytelling industry – for its 42nd edition.
Silverback Films’ Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story, ties with heralded Underdog Films & Keo Films’ series Chimp Empire & Wildstar Films’ series, Tiger, for most nominations with three a piece. Bristol-based companies Silverback Films & Wildstar Films each also receive six nomination nods across their titles.
Recognised in the categories of Cinematography, Scripted Narrative, and Producer/Director, the heartwarming tale of Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story is sure to be one of the delights of the year. Set against the backdrop of the striking shores of Shetland, middle-aged man Billy, finds his life transformed by an unlikely friendship with a playful young otter named Molly.
Animal Behaviour fittingly takes centre stage at this year’s awards, with both Chimp Empire & Tiger, shedding new light on some of the animal kingdom’s most iconic and charismatic creatures. Produced by WildStar Films, Tiger – the culmination of 1,500 days of filming – captures young mother Ambar as she raises her rebellious cubs. Meanwhile, Chimp Empire, co-produced by Underdog Films and Keo Films, observes the startlingly complex social dynamics at play in the Ugandan Ngogo Chimpanzee community – by far the largest Chimpanzee community ever discovered.
International features dominated the Impact category, with Patrol, Rhino Man and We Are Guardians, all committed to delivering demonstrable political or societal change beyond the screen. Participatory filmmaking is cemented within each of the impact docs, with the affected communities being co-creators or principal contributors.
This year’s competition attracted nearly 700 productions from over 1/4 of the world’s countries, across 15 different award categories. It sees the re-introduction of Wildscreen’s Children’s Award with schoolchildren in Kenya and Bristol who will decide the overall winner from this year’s selection of shorts & features aimed at kids. The winners of each category and the highly coveted Golden Panda for the best overall production will be announced at the Panda Awards Ceremony, supported by Headline Sponsor Warner Chappell Production Music. The awards take place on 17 October at the Bristol Harbour Hotel in Bristol, UK and will be live-streamed globally.
Category sponsors are: Films at 59 Cinematography Award, Films at 59 Sound Award, Wildscreen ARK Children’s Award, Save Our Seas Foundation Impact Award, UWE On-Screen Talent Award, Humble Bee Films Production Management Team Award, NDR Naturfilm Series Award and the Kaleidoscope Foundation, Aurum Sustainability Award.
The Panda Awards are the jewel in the crown of the Wildscreen Festival, the headline event in the natural world storytelling calendar, convening over 2,000 of the world’s leading filmmakers, broadcasters and content creators between the 14-18 October.
