Film / News
Bristol leads the way at the ‘Green Oscars’ once again
The nominations for this year’s Panda Awards have just been announced, and once again Bristol punches way above its weight. Twelve of the nominated wildlife and environmental documentaries were made by production companies based in the city. That’s half of all the films up for gongs.
The target to beat is the eight awards bagged by Bristol-based filmmakers at the previous biennial Wildscreen film festival in 2016. Back then, the field was led by Silverback Films, co-producers of David Attenborough’s TV series The Hunt. This won the Panasonic Cinematography Award (large crew) for the episode The Hardest Challenge, the Doghouse Editing Award (editor Matt Meech) and the Music Award (Steven Price). In addition, Silverback, along with Crazy Ape Productions, bagged the Terra Mater Factual Studios Animal Behaviour Award for the Disneynature documentary Monkey Kingdom.
This year, Silverback is once again the most nominated production company, with five nods. Silverback’s nominated productions include David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, which is up for the Scripted Narrative Award. This was due to be launched back in April with a nationwide live broadcast to cinemas from the Royal Albert Hall with Michael Palin in conversation with the great man himself. But the covid-19 pandemic put paid to that. The event has now been put back until the autumn, on a date to be confirmed.
is needed now More than ever
Just behind Silverback with four nominations is the BBC’s Natural History Unit, whose blue-chip docs Dynasties and Seven Worlds, One Planet dominate the series category. Here’s the full list of Bristol nominees:
· David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, Silverback Films – Scripted Narrative Award
· Our Planet – One Planet, Episode 1 -Silverback Films – Cinematography Award
· Disneynature Penguins, Silverback Films – Editing & Music Awards
· Dancing with the Birds, Silverback Films – Music Award
· Dynasties: Chimpanzee, BBC Studios Natural History Unit – Cinematography Award
· Dynasties, BBC Studios Natural History Unit – Series Award
· Seven Worlds, One Planet, BBC Studios Natural History Unit – Series Award
· Earth from Space, Episode 1, A New Perspective, BBC Studios Natural History Unit – Production Team Award
· Savage Kingdom, Icon Films – Scripted Narrative Award
· The Flood, Icon Films – Sound Award
· Night on Earth: Dusk Till Dawn, Plimsoll Productions – Production Team Award
The winners will be announced on 22 October 2020 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 fest online, seizing the opportunity to make it the most inclusive and accessible Festival in its 38-year history. Go here to buy tickets.
Read more: David Attenborough pulls no punches in his most personal documentary
Main pic from Seven Worlds, One Planet supplied by Wildscreen
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