Wildscreen has announced the winners of the 2022 Panda Awards.
‘My Garden of a Thousand Bees’, the lockdown documentary following wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn, received the most prestigious prize – the Plimsoll Golden Panda Award. The feature film, which explores the secret lives of over 60 species of bees, swept the nominations, tying with ‘The Green Planet’ for the number of categories back in July.
Terra Mater Studios and Bonne Pioche’s ‘The Bastard King’ received a special jury award – the Panda in the Pocket, to recognise outstanding storytelling, alongside the category in which it was nominated – the Music Award. Shining a light on the threats to the elusive Florida Panther, Eric Bendick’s ‘Path of the Panther’, received awards for both categories it was nominated for, taking home the Save Our Seas Foundation Impact Award, and the Off the Fence Production Team Award.
The first ever winner of the Sustainability Award, ‘Springwatch 2021’, was recognised for the continued work and innovative measures to reduce their production’s carbon footprint. The jury awarded The Watches team this prize to help set the bar for blue chip productions. ‘The Green Planet’ walked away with the coveted Terra Mater Studios Series Award.
Lucie Muir, CEO of Wildscreen Festival said: “As a key part of Wildscreen Festival for 40 years, the Panda Awards has continued to celebrate the best in natural world storytelling among the globe’s leading innovators and creators, as well as fresh talent entering the sector. This year’s inspiring selection of shorts, features and series uncovered some of nature’s most fascinating and enduring stories, bringing them to a worldwide audience. Congratulations to everyone who was recognised and we look forward to seeing the evolution of natural world storytelling over the next few years.”
On the night, special awards were given to recognise members of the industry for their positive impact on the natural storytelling community. Jeff Wilson, Series Producer at Silverback and the Chair of the Festival Advisory Board presented the Outstanding Achievement Award to Production Management Teams everywhere for being at the heart of production. Also, the Lifetime Achievement Award was posthumously presented to the late Miles Barton, a BAFTA award-winning Series Producer at BBC Natural History Unit Studios. Janet Han Vissering, Sr. Vice President, Programme Development and Production at National Geographic, was awarded the Chris Parsons’ Outstanding Achievement Award 2022 by Bertie Gregory, Wildlife TV Presenter and Laura Marshall, CEO of Icon Films.
The ceremony concludes the 2022 Wildscreen Festival. Held in Bristol, the 40th anniversary edition convenes more than 1000 filmmakers, photographers, broadcasters and content creators, from over 40 countries, for a programme of 130 events, featuring 180 industry thought-leaders.
The full list of Wildscreen Panda Award winners is:
BEHAVIOUR AWARD
My Garden of a Thousand Bees
Passion Planet, The WNET Group, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films
FILMS AT 59 CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARD
Polar Bear
Silverback Films
DELUXE EDITING AWARD
My Garden of a Thousand Bees
Passion Planet, The WNET Group, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films. Key Editor(s): Steve White
TANGLED BANK STUDIOS EMERGING TALENT AWARD
Snakes & Ladders
University of the West of England
SAVE OUR SEAS FOUNDATION IMPACT AWARD
Path of the Panther
Grizzly Creek Films, Wildpath, Common Pictures
MUSIC AWARD
The Bastard King
Terra Mater Studios, Bonne Pioche, Shibumi Films
Key Credit(s) for Music: Laurent Garnier, Pierre LeFeuvre
UWE ON-SCREEN TALENT AWARD
Tiger 24
W Films, The Tiger Fund
PHOTO STORY AWARD
Historical Rescue of Caimans in Pantanal
Photographer: Fernando Jara Faciole
EMERGING TALENT PHOTO STORY AWARD
The Lwiro Reserve
Guerchom Ndebo
CVP PRODUCER/DIRECTOR AWARD
My Garden of a Thousand Bees
Passion Planet, The WNET Group, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films
OFF THE FENCE PRODUCTION TEAM AWARD
Path of the Panther
Grizzly Creek Films, Wildpath, Common Pictures
Production Team: Eric Bendick, Carlton Ward Jr., Tori Linder, Thomas Winston, Jeff Reed, Malia Byrtus, Danny Schmidt, Dawson Dunning, Rick Smith, Katie Bryden, Andrew Harrison Brown, Scott Sterling, Ashley Siana, Alex Freeze, Kevin Matley, Brian Eimer, Lauren Yoho, George McKenzie Jr.
SCRIPTED NARRATIVE AWARD
Penguin Town: Hot and Bothered
Netflix, Red Rock Films, Red Rock Films International
Key Scriptwriter(s): Andy Mitchell
TERRA MATER STUDIOS SERIES AWARD
The Green Planet
BBC Studios, PBS, bilibili, ZDF, China Media Group CCTV9, France Televisions & The Open University
FILMS AT 59 SOUND AWARD
Welcome to Earth: The Silent Roar
Nutopia
Key Credit(s) for Sound: Sam Castleton, Tom Foster, Jay Price, Phil Bax, Sean Millar, Parker Brown
AURUM SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
Springwatch 2021
BBC Studios Natural History Unit
PANDA IN THE POCKET AWARD
The Bastard King
Terra Mater Studios, Bonne Pioche, Shibumi Films
PLIMSOLL GOLDEN PANDA AWARD
My Garden of a Thousand Bees
Passion Planet, The WNET Group, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films
FESTIVAL ADVISORY BOARD OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Production Management Teams everywhere.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The late Miles Barton, a BAFTA award-winning Series Producer at BBC Natural History Unit Studios.
CHRIS PARSONS’ OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2022
Janet Han Vissering, Sr. Vice President, Program Development and Production at National Geographic.
Jon Creamer
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