Audience Prize & Programmer Prize Revealed

Following the incredible success of the Wildscreen Festival 2020 reaching brand new audiences across the world and celebrating the very best storytelling about our natural world, Wildscreen are proud to announce the winners of the Audience Prize and Programmer Prize.

Following the closure of the viewing platform on 30th December, the Wildscreen team calculated the most-viewed production which had been featured in the on-demand library by our international audience. The winner of the Audience Prize is Lost Kings of Bioko by Oliver Goetzl,  Ivo Nörenberg and Justin Jay! A GULO Film and Doclights GmbH/NDR Naturfilm Production for NDR, WDR, ARTE, ORF, SVT and Smithsonian Channel.

“We definitely worked our heart out for this film – I nearly died there due to a Leptospirosis infection (at first I was mistreated against Malaria on the island) – had to be flown out to a tropical medical hospital in Germany and got Loa-loa after my return to Bioko… ⁠ ⁠ 

“I wanted to return last May to Bioko – together with cameraman and field producer Justin Jay – to show our finished film in the villages around the drill jungle and… also at the mainland portion of the country in Bata to discuss with poachers, officials and help to stop the bushmeat trade. COVID stopped that – but I will do it as soon as I can.⁠ ⁠ 

“Definitely the prize money will help to fund my new project – I will use it for the “Alpha 7S III“ which I ordered recently and so it will help to film a threatened paradise and rare species in South-East Asia this year – Oliver Goetzl, Director

The inaugural Programmer Prize is awarded to Cries of Our Ancestors, a film that delves into the interrelationships between chimpanzees and humans in the forrests of Guinea. Co-directed by Rebecca Kormos and Kalyanee Mam

“It is such an honor to be selected for the Programmer Prize at the Wildscreen Festival! We are so grateful to the people of Pellel Koura, Kata, Bossou, and Hafia for their stories, helping us to understand the interconnected relationship between the people and chimpanzees of Guinea. 

“We look forward to sharing this prize with them and using the funds to help improve access to clean water in their villages.”⁠

Congratulations to the filmmakers who have been recognised by Wildscreen Festival 2020 and best of luck to filmmakers who are looking to submit for the 2022 edition of the festival, where submissions will open at the end of the year.