Wildscreen Awards announces 2020 nominations

Natural history filmmaking festival, Wildscreen, has announced the nominees for the 2020 Wildscreen Panda Awards.

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.

Silverback Films tops the list as the most nominated production company, securing five nods. BBC Studios Natural History Unit follows close behind with four nominations, dominating the Series category with DYNASTIES and SEVEN WORLDS, ONE PLANET.

Films creating impact beyond entertainment stood out for the jury, with SEA OF SHADOWS being joined by STROOP (Producer Director), PENY 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 winners will be announced on 22 October at the Panda Awards Celebration, during the first ever virtual edition of the Wildscreen Festival.

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

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

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 Salina

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

Masked Monkeys

Joan de la Malla

Spain

Dinner is served

Audun Rikardsen

Norway

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 Köhlerand 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