Wildscreen Festival Announces 2026 Official Selection
Wildscreen is delighted to announce its Official Selection for Wildscreen Festival 2026
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2025 At A Glance
As we come to the end of 2025 at Wildscreen, let’s take a look at back at everything we got up to this year. From new events and projects being launched, to the return of some fan favourites, join us as we look back on some of our top highlights…
Science in Storytelling
2025 saw the return of Science in Storytelling for its second year, held at Bristol Beacon in March. We welcomed 238 delegates, both in-person and online, for a day of panels and lightning talks. Featuring a plethora of amazingly talented storytellers and scientists, we went on a journey discovering the greatest ways to keep science in the spotlight.
Representatives from 96 different organisations also joined us from the academic, science and television production worlds, including National Geographic, BBC, True to Nature and Wildlife Conservation Society.
Want to join us for Science in Storytelling 2026? Find out more here.
Wildscreen Festival Botswana
In June we delivered two days of inspiring content at Wildscreen Festival Botswana, welcoming over 150 delegates from 18 countries, each sharing their knowledge, experience and advice.
By convening African storytellers with key global industry players for the third-year running, we built on pan-African connections and collaborations made in Nairobi 2023 and Tanzania 2024, empowered Motswana talent, shifting the voice and creating greater equity in the wildlife film industry.
WildPhotos
In October, we hosted WildPhotos in partnership with Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of The Year. Over 200 delegates joined us in-person and online from 32 countries for our one-day nature photography symposium.
A world-class line-up of 14 award-winning nature photographers shared the stories, craft and impact behind some of the most recent iconic wildlife photography. Hosted at The British Library and kindly supported by Focused on Nature, we enjoyed a unique programme of talks and panels that explored the triumphs and challenges of capturing nature in photography, as well as the future of the genre.
Wildscreen Industry Summit
Our inaugural Summit event in October saw an amazing turn out of 511 delegates from 38 countries around the world. With 53 speakers from 14 countries, we covered 24 unique topics over 41 sessions, masterclasses, workshops, screenings and more.
It was a busy three days in Bristol and a great chance to take stock of where the industry currently is and where it’s headed!
We’re excited to be bringing the Wildscreen Festival back in 2026 and at an exciting new location – find out more here.
Panda Awards
Dubbed the ‘Green Oscars’, this year’s Panda Awards saw 344 submissions from filmmakers around the world, and we introduced three new award categories; independent, in-country production and short.
Trade Secret took home the coveted Golden Panda, our Outstanding Achievement Award went to the wonderful Dr Martha Holmes, and the Field Craft Recognition Award was won by Bazili ‘Baz’ Kessy. The 2025 Panda Awards were kindly sponsored by Warner Chappell Production Music.
Submissions are now open for both Panda Awards and Official Selection 2026 – get your films submitted now!
Wildscreen Network
A huge thank you as always to our wonderful Network Members who joined us for a plethora of networking opportunities this year, from our regular networking drinks to our webinars with industry experts including Abraham Joffe, Director of Golden Panda award-winning Trade Secret. We loved seeing loads of you at our festive drinks to cap off the year!
The Launch of NatureStory!
Our new nature-focused online community, where professional storytellers and nature enthusiasts can connect with each other, develop and share craft, access unique Wildscreen content and inspire conservation action with their work.
Uniting Wildscreen Network, ARK and Events, it is the place to keep your finger on the pulse of natural world storytelling! If you haven’t yet moved over from Wildscreen Network to NatureStory Pro, get in touch with us at [email protected] and we can help get you set up.
2025
We want to thank you, our wonderful Wildscreen community, for supporting us this year, whether that was by attending an event, joining our network or NatureStory, or simply following us on our socials! It’s been an incredible year and we can’t wait to share with you everything we have in store for 2026.
See you next year folks!