Official Selection
A global launchpad for authentic storytellers and original stories across the world.
About the Selection
Introduced in 2020, our Official Selection showcases creative and bold stories that spark positive and restorative action for our natural world. From short and feature films to extended reality productions, these entries from amateur and experienced filmmakers alike are sure to inspire.
Our truly international selection is reviewed by a group of pre-selectors, then curated by a diverse team of programmers.
The Official Selection is separate from the Panda Awards, our industry- and craft-focused film and photography competition.
Meet the Directors
You’ve watched the original stories on our film library, now meet the Directors behind them.
Wildscreen are releasing free-to-access Q&As on our YouTube Channel. Start watching today!
Trophies
Were you selected or an award winner for our 2022 Official Selection? Order duplicate certificates and trophies for the rest of your team before Fri 28 Oct.
☆ Film Screenings
After a two year hiatus, we’re excited to be hosting award-winning screenings in unique Bristol venues.
With world premieres on the cards, don’t miss this opportunity to watch original stories and participate in Director Q&As.
The screenings between 10-15 October are supported by the BFI, awarding funds from The National Lottery
The 2022 Selection
This year, Wildscreen is highlighting 32 productions which tell unique and original stories about our natural world created by authentic storytellers from over 16 countries across the globe.
Programme Chair, Lucy Mukerjee said, “the programming team and I had a remarkable experience curating the 2022 Wildscreen Official Selections, traveling all over the world via these eye-opening stories, following elusive species, discovering little known ecosystems, and witnessing the lengths that some are going to fight the climate emergency and restore the environment. “
Special Award Recipients
As part of our Official Selection, three special awards are also granted to outstanding productions which go out of their way to impress our programmers and audience.
The recipients of the Programmer Prize and Audience Award each receive a cash prize.
Programmer Prize – Panteras, Living Among Wild Cats (Spain)
Audience Award – Wild Romania (Romania)
Sustainability Merit –Jaguaretê – Avá – Pantanal in Flames (Brazil)
Full Official Selection
All That Breathes India
Before They Fall
Cam William MacArthur
United States
CAUGHT
Emma Silverstone-Segal
Canada
Exposure ☆
Holly Morris
Canada, US
Gondwana
Ben Joseph Andrews
Australia
HARRIER
Ciara Flint
United Kingdom
Hypha
Dir: Natalia Cabrera, Ex Pr: Selva Gonzalez
Chile
I Am Capable ☆
Roxy Furman
United Kingdom
Jaguaretê – Avá – Pantanal in Flames ☆
Dir: Lawrence Wahba Pr: Jefferson Pedace
Brazil
JOY
Aner Etxebarria Moral
Spain
LYNX ☆
Laurent Geslin
Switzerland
MIWENE ☆
Keith Heyward, Jennifer Berglund, Gange Anita Yeti Enomenga, Obe Beatriz Nenquimo Nihua
Ecuador
Mother of the Sea ☆
Nicolas Brown
Netherlands
My Garden of a Thousand Bees ☆
Dir: Dave Allen, Pr: Gaby Bastyra, Filmmaker: Martin Dohrn
UK
MYRIAD. Where we connect.
Michael Grotenhoff, Christian Zipfel
Germany
Panteras, living among Wild Cats☆
Andoni Canela
Spain
Path of the Panther
Eric Bendick
US
Rebellion
Maia Kenworthy, Elena Sánchez Bellot
United Kingdom
SATOYAMA Niigata: Living with Snow
Akihiko IDA
Japan
Saving Giraffes: The Long Journey Home
Dir: Tyler Austin Schiffman, Pr: Leslie Schwerin
Kenya
Shaba
Ami Vitale
Kenya/UK/US
Stories of You and I
John Davies
UK
The Age of Nature: Awakening
Peter Lown
UK
The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness
Florian Schulz, Myles Connolly
US
The Birdcarver
Felipe Rosa
Brazil
The Caretakers
Tom Hanner
United Kingdom
THE EGG – BURSTING INTO LIFE
Astrid Miller, Johannes Berger, Stephan Krasser
Austria
The Green Planet: Human Worlds
Elisabeth Oakham
UK
Tigre Gente
Trees for Tamarins
Whitney Beer-Kerr, Geoff Luck
United States
Whales in a Changing Ocean
Richard Sidey
New Zealand
Wild Romania
Dan Dinu, Cosmin Dumitrache
Romania
Enjoy the Stories
Many of our Official Selection films are available on the Wildscreen Festival event platform.
Virtual Passes are still available to book to enjoy the film library until 16 December.
Our programmers
We have assembled a diverse team of international programmers to curate our Official Selection. They curated our final selection of productions to showcase at the Festival.
Meet the team spanning four continents.
Lucy Jane Mukerjee (she/her)
Senior Programmer, Tribeca Film Festival
Lucy is a queer British-Indian programming disruptor and social impact film curator. Her area of expertise is at the intersection of activism and the arts, specifically where programming and inclusion meet. Since 2018, she has been a Senior Programmer at the Tribeca Festival, where she is responsible for selecting the festival’s narrative and documentary feature films, and strategizing the organization’s LGBTQIA+ outreach.
(Connecticut, USA)
Elizabeth Swanson Andi (she/her)
Elizabeth is a Napu Kichwa visual storyteller, environmental science educator, and community organizer from the Santu Urku/Venecia Kichwa Community on the Napo River in the Ecuadorian Amazon. She is greatly inspired by the land and people who shaped her. She is motivated by not only the joy of her people but also the loss she and her community have experienced at the face of deforestation and extractivist efforts. Elizabeth believes in the power of collective action and impact storytelling and its crucial role for a viable future.
(Ecuador)
Chioma Onyenwe (she/her)
Founder & Filmmaker, Raconteur Productions
Chioma is the founder of Raconteur Productions, a Film Programmer as well as a Creative Indaba Fellow. Drawing on her interdisciplinary training from Imperial College London, Met Film School and Relativity Los Angeles, she has released over 20 productions, telling stories that lie in the intersection of history, culture & identity. In her spare time she is an avid deep-sea diver and mountaineer.
(Nigeria)
James Reed (he/him)
Director, Underdog Films
James is an Academy-award winning director who runs Underdog Films. He won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and Wildscreen’s coveted Golden Panda Award with My Octopus Teacher, which was broadcast on Netflix in 2020.
(Bristol, UK)
Amada Torruella (she/they)
Programmer & Independent Filmmaker
Amada is a Central American director, cinematographer, impact producer and film programmer based between El Salvador and San Diego. Amada explores the body-territory and is interested in portraits of the landscape. Their work has been featured at Blackstar Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, Skirball Cultural Center in LA, amongst others.
(El Salvador & San Diego, USA)
Emma Hughes (she/her)
Interactive Arts Producer, Curator and Outdoor Instructor and Educator
Alongside her work as an outdoor instructor and workshop facilitator, Emma Hughes is a producer and curator specialising in interactive and immersive experience making. As an advocate of the arts and outdoors for health and wellbeing, she places community at the heart of her practice, facilitating creative expression and engagement through making and producing work that is playful, accessible and innovative in its use of emerging technology.
(Bristol, UK)
The pre-selectors
Our international team of pre-selectors were integral for analysing the high volume of submissions we received into the second edition of our Official Selection. Their reviews created a shortlist of original productions which were shared with our programmers.
Amy Thompson UK
Ana Luisa Santos The Netherlands
Andrea Small USA
Anne Weinhold UK
Benjamin Owuor Nigeria
Carole Larsen Canada
Christian Robson UK
Claire Spelling UK
Coralie Migné France
David Pokupec Slovenia
Edo Dzafic Germany
Evelyn Smalley UK
Hannah Galyop Pam-Hworo Nigeria
Isabelle Groc Canada
Jeremy Hogarth Australia
Joe Galuszka UK
Kalyan Varma India
Kelly Cherry UK
Laura Pratt UK
Martha Fernanda Alvarez Gastelum Mexico
Michael Mwang’ombe Kenya
Michael Sanderson The Netherlands
Nadege Laici UK
Nick Samuel Lord UK
Robson Henrique de Carvalho Brazil
Rosa Prosser UK
Sarah-Jane Walsh UK
Tom Land UK
Share your Story
The Official Selection is part of Wildscreen Festival and will open call for entries again in January 2024.
Follow our page on FilmFreeway to receive updates.
