Wildscreen Festival 2024

We are pleased to announce that Wildscreen Festival 2024 will take place between the 14-18 October 2024.

KEY DATES

January 2024: Panda Awards and Official Selection – Open for Entries

March 2024: Super Early Bird Passes on Sale

April 2024: Panda Awards and Official Selection Entry Deadline

August 2024: Panda Award Nominees and Official Selection Announced

September 2024: Full Programme Announcement & Delegate List Released

Hybrid Edition // 10-14 October

Wildscreen Festival is our world-leading international festival, held biennially, which celebrates and advances natural world storytelling. This year marks the charity’s 40th birthday and the first ever hybrid edition. 

Tickets

A variety of hybrid and virtual passes are available to experience the Wildscreen Festival.

Full hybrid passes, including concessions, provide entry to live industry events in Bristol and the online event platform for 3 months.

Live events take place in Bristol, UK from Monday 14 – Friday 18 October.

About the Festival

The Wildscreen Festival was first held in 1982, in Bristol, UK. It was founded by Sir Peter Scott and Christopher Parsons OBE, former Head of the BBC Natural History Unit. Today, as always, it brings together industry thought leaders, emerging talent and the most exciting, innovative voices in natural world storytelling. 

Official Selection

The Official Selection competition is an innovative platform for new talent and underrepresented voices in the natural world storytelling industry.

Submissions for the 2024 Official Selection are now open.

Panda Awards

The globally acclaimed Panda Awards, the ‘Green Oscars’ of the international wildlife film and TV industry, have sat at the heart of the Wildscreen Festival since 1982. They celebrate the very best in the natural world storytelling craft, and remain the highest honour in the industry. Submissions for the 2024 Panda Awards are now open.

Community Content Proposal

This year we are opening up our programming to our community.

This is an opportunity to propose to the Wildscreen team and Festival Advisory Board, a session addressing a topic or showcasing work that hasn’t yet been done, or could be done in a new and innovative way. 

There is one slot in the Festival programme available for community-driven content. Options include:

 
  • Panels: a diverse and candid discussion around a specific topic (4 speakers maximum incl. moderator). 1 hour long
  • Masterclasses: practical take-away session providing insight to a technique or craft (3 speakers maximum incl. moderator). 1 hour long
  • Alternative sessions: a space for outside of the box sessions. Examples of content could include: lightening talks or content based around a central theme; spoken word; an immersive audience experience. Alternative sessions should be 30 minutes long max. 
Deadline to apply: Thursday 2nd May
 

Volunteer

We’re looking for friendly, enthusiastic and committed individuals to join the Wildscreen team to help to deliver the event.
As a volunteer at Wildscreen Festival, you’ll gain hands-on film festival experience as well as the opportunity to attend incredible natural world screenings and hear from expert speakers.
Interested in being one of our incredible volunteers? There are both roles for our festival in-person in Bristol, and remote roles open to international applicants! ⁠
Deadline: 31 July 2024
 

Emerging Talent Bursaries

The Wildscreen Festival 2024 Bursary Scheme aims to nurture talent in the Wildlife Film and TV industry by providing fully and part  funded access to Wildscreen Festival 2024. 

Applications are now closed.

World-leading International Festival

Wildscreen Festival is our world-leading international festival, held biennially, which celebrates and advances natural world storytelling. The festival focuses on four key elements:

Craft

Storytelling, Developing Technologies and Techniques

Research student radio tracking brown hyaenas - Martin Harvey

Industry

Networking, Collaborating, Trends, Sustainability, Future Audiences

Global Voices

Talent, EDI, Indigenous Communities

Huge nest in a tree created by sociable weaver birds - Namibia - Martin Harvey

Planetary Crisis

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Social Injustice

Programme

From industry thought-leaders and celebrities, to award-winning filmmakers, photographers, NGOs and high-end kit and camera companies, Wildscreen Festival boasts an unmissable programme of events.

The programme for 2024 is still under wraps for now, but click the button below to see what was on offer at the last festival, and stay tuned for updates…

Global Hubs

Wildscreen introduced Festival Global Hubs in 2022 which offer the opportunity for storytellers and change makers based in global natural history content hotspots to be part of the Festival.

Headline Festival Sponsor, BBC Studios Natural History Unit, supported the Nairobi hub, Principal Sponsor Save our Seas Foundation supported the Cape Town edition, with our final hub based in Bangalore, India, supported by Felis Creations. 

 

Wild Pitch

Whether you are a producer, cinematographer, presenter or scientist, Wild Pitch is open to all with a story to tell about our natural world, its beauty and its fragility.

Nine individuals (or teams) will each have 3 minutes to pitch their nature-centred film idea to a jury of leading commissioners and senior executives, in front of a live audience at Wildscreen Festival 2022.

The three most original and exciting projects will win a cash prize of £6,000.

Festival Info

Got a question? Check out our FAQs section or watch our Festival information webinar.

Festival Sponsors

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