Wildscreen has announced its Official Selection for Wildscreen Festival 2024 which takes place from 14-18th October in Bristol.

This is the third year of the Festival’s Official Selection, which is selected by a team of independent and professional programmers.

The Official Selection will see 36 films from 6 continents (Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Australasia) screen at the festival with 44% of the films directed by women, and 7 (19.5%) are from producers based in the Global South; “emphasising Wildscreen’s commitment to platforming underrepresented voices in natural history storytelling.”

Two films in the Official Selection have also been nominated for an Emerging Talent Panda Award: Intercellular (1 x 10’) by Dan Short and Living with Lions (Kuishi Na Simba) (1 x 60’) by Erica Frances Rugabandana.

The Official Selection will see 8 UK Premieres and 9 European Premieres take place at Wildscreen Festival 2024

“On behalf of the programme team, I am delighted to present this lineup of incredible films curated by highly diverse filmmakers. These films span continents, weaving tales from the microscopic world to the majestic march of elephants,” says Chioma Onyenwe, Chair of Programmers; “It is extraordinary to see that the ongoing struggle to save nature is happening on both micro and macro levels. We hope these films inspire and instil a profound sense of responsibility for preserving our planet for generations to come.”

Notable films in the Official Selection include:

• –  Second Nature: Gender and Sexuality in the Animal World (1 x 56’) narrated by trans Hollywood actor Elliot Page. From 2022 Sundance Fellow and Grantee Drew Denny, Second Nature explores everything you didn’t learn in school: from the 1,500 species where homosexuality is observed, to animals that can change sex
• –  #Hvaldimir, Conversation with a spy whale (1 x 90’, UK Premiere), the story of a beluga whale that escaped from a secret Russian military base and became a social media phenomenon. Canal+ is attached as a broadcaster, with Mediawan Rights representing
• –  Orca – Black & White Gold (1 x 91’, UK Premiere) from Terra Mater Studios, a thrilling ride inside the battle between a ring of Russian businessmen, monsters, orca catchers and bureaucrats now driving the global captivity trade, and the journalists and activists fighting to protect the animals

• –  Antarctica Unearthed (1 x 63’), an exploration of the Antarctic ecosystems hosting the planet’s smallest animals from National Geographic Explorer Ariel Waldman
• –  Giants Rising (1 x 82’), a journey into the heart of America’s most iconic forests from director Lisa Landers (The Science of Sustainability, Unleashed, Year on Earth)

  Storytelling Innovations: Planetarium and VR screenings

• –  Two short films in the Selection have been made for Fulldome Planetariums: The Earth Above: A Deep Time View of Australia’s Epic History (1 x 28’) and Sounds of the Ocean (1 x 25). They will be screened alongside Secrets from a Forest (1 x 26), which is nominated for the Festival’s Sound Panda Award
• –  Also included in this year’s Selection is VR short Amazônia Viva (1 x 10’) from Estêvão Ciavatta, founder of Pindorama Filmes: Brazil’s first Carbon Neutral audiovisual company