Wildscreen ARK Competition Impact & Round-Up
12 finalists of Wildscreen ARK’s 2024 Youth Film and Photography Competition were celebrated at a special event, hosted by Steve Backshall, during last month’s Wildscreen Festival 2024.
EDGE OF NATURE: SHORT FILM FUND
The EDGE of Nature: Short Film Fund supports and nurtures emerging natural world storytellers to create fresh, out-of-the-box storytelling approaches to engage GenZ audiences and spotlight EDGE species and habitats.
Launched in 2023 and delivered in partnership with On the Edge, this new short film fund has catalysed new and creative projects by emerging filmmakers globally, bringing new perspectives and fresh approaches to the natural history filmmaking genre.
Introducing our 2023/24 grantees...
Four emerging filmmakers from around the world were each granted up to £15,000 to produce a new, innovative, boundary pushing short film that spotlighted Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species and zones.
The final films premiered at Wildscreen Festival 2024 and are now available to watch globally on YouTube. Find out more and watch the films below!
Meet the winning films
Myles Storey, Malaysia/UK
Would you Still Love Me If I Was A Sticky Frog?
Nikki Tan, Singapore
Madame Margaux
Tania Ãlvarez Guerrero, Mexico
The Mayan Forest: When A Tapir Gazes Upon You
Will Clothier, South Africa/UK
Ramfy
Would You Still Love Me If I Was A Sticky Frog?
Myles Storey, Malaysia/UK
Drama meets Natural History to tell the story of a young couple in a long distance relationship as they imagine themselves as three different EDGE species in Malaysia.
Join Nick and Yuna as they explore the difficulties of loving across borders and the parallels of conserving species on the brink of extinction. You won’t regret it.
Madame Margaux
Nikki Tan, Singapore
Drawing inspiration from the Tboli leaf warbler they helped discover, Margaux uses performance to promote the preservation of their indigenous land.
The Mayan Forest: When A Tapir Gazes Upon You
Tania Ãlvarez, Mexico
A group of children go on an adventure through the Maya Forest in search of the tapir. Their journey traverses myth, jungle and memory.
Our journey uncovers the mystical connection between humans and nature by exploring the vast and rich forests of Mexico and Belize.
Ramfy
Will Clothier, UK
Wildlife filmmaker, Will Clothier, returns to South Africa in search of a very special pangolin called Ramfy.
Meet the community of extrodinary and passionate people who helped to raise Ramfy, a baby Temminck’s pangolin before successfully releasing him into the wild – the first time in history that this has been achieved. Expect pangolin mischief, hope and a rare up close and personal insight into one of the worlds least known species.
Directors
Meet the four filmmakers whose bold and unique stories have been brought to life through the funding, training, support and mentorship delivered through this years Edge of Nature: Short Film Fund.
Tania Ãlvarez
Director, The Maya Forest
Mexico
Tania Ãlvarez Guerrero is a Mexican director and producer. Currently a thesis student in the National School of Film Arts ) ENAC, UNAM in México. Her work is characterized by a deep documentary and formal research and overtones that resemble the fantasy genre.
“Through my projects, I aspire to open a dialogue that delves into the profound questions of how animals perceive the world and the intricate dance of our connection with them.”
Myles Storey
Director, Would You Still Love Me If I Was A Sticky Frog?
Malaysia/United Kingdom
Myles Storey is a documentary filmmaker focusing on stories about the natural world. He is passionate about telling impact-driven stories about our relationship with nature and working on projects with local audiences in mind.
“I’m so grateful for this opportunity to create an original story about the creatures that don’t always get the spotlight in mainstream natural history programmes. What’s even more exciting is the freedom that we are given to create something authentic and unique in this space, all with support from industry professionals.”
Nikki Tan
Director, Madame Margaux
Singapore
Nikki is an aspiring wildlife filmmaker based in Singapore, with a passion in storytelling and bringing important and beautiful narratives to light. Graduating from film school and dabbling in commercial and corporate production, she is now charting her path towards using the power of film to lend a voice to the unseen and unheard.
“Filmmaking has always been a big dream cooped up in this little mind of mine. Growing up, it became a stark reality that dreams aren’t always easy and opportunities are sparse. But since giving up proved to be even harder, it has pushed us to seize every chance and to chase after it fervently.”
Will Clothier
Director, Ramfy
South Africa/United Kingdom
Will Clothier is a Bristol-based wildlife filmmaker and conservationist with a background in Southern African conservation management and wildlife reintroduction.
“After first attempting to make this film in 2020 and being unable to do so due to the Covid pandemic, I’m so grateful to finally be able to tell Ramfy’s incredible story thanks to the support of On the EDGE and Wildscreen. There’s so much more to pangolins than meets the eye – and I’m excited to spread this message with a new audience!”
Festival Showcase
Join us live in Bristol or online at Wildscreen Festival for the World Permiere of the Edge of Nature short film collection.
Plus meet the incredible group of emerging filmmakers making their mark on the wildlife filmmaking map at Tuesdays headlining event:
On the Edge: Nature Through a New Lens
Find out more via the Wildscreen Festival 2024.
Watch The Trailers
Films supported by the Edge of Nature: Short Film Fund are due to premiere at this years Wildscreen Festival. Get excited for the four groundbreaking grantee projects coming this October by checking out the trailers below!
Festival Showcase
Join us live in Bristol or online at Wildscreen Festival for the World Permiere of the Edge of Nature short film collection.
Plus meet the incredible group of emerging filmmakers making their mark on the wildlife filmmaking map at Tuesdays headlining event:
On the Edge: Nature Through a New Lens
Find out more via the Wildscreen Festival 2024.
WHAT IS EDGE?
Discover more about EDGE species, EDGE zones and the EDGE of Nature: Short Film Fund below.
EDGE SPECIES
EDGE species are Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered species in the plant, fungi and animal kingdoms.
They collectively represent billions of years of evolutionary history. When they’re gone, there’s no replacing them.
Click below to discover which species are categorised as EDGE species.
EDGE ZONES
EDGE Zones add up to less than 1% of earth’s land collectively but hold one-third of the planet’s terrestrial vertebrates.
They are spread across five continents, from the humid forests of Madagascar to the mountainous Western Ghats region of India.
Click below to find out more about EDGE zones.
Opportunities
We are currently recruiting for the following opportunties through the EDGE of Nature: Short Film Fund.
Second Camera Operator, South Africa
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This is an exciting opportunity to work as a second camera operator on one of the the films being supported through the EDGE of Nature: Short Film fund. We are looking for someone to work closely with the director and conservationists to help capture; interviews, conservation work, unique animal behaviour and BTS footage.
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Previous experience working in a Big 5 reserve is essential.
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The role will include prepping kit, planning shoots, logging footage, backing up footage and reviewing footage in Adobe Premiere Pro.
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To be eligible to apply you must be based and living in South Africa. Applications recieved from individuals based outside of South Africa will not be considered.
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Deadline for applications: 2pm SAST, 2nd February 2024
EDGE OF NATURE: SHORT FILM FUND
The EDGE of Nature: Short Film Fund is your chance to bring your natural world film project to life! Delivered in partnership with On the Edge, the fund will platform unique stories and storytelling talent from across the international wildlife production and conservation ecosystem, spanning off-screen to on-screen talent. Applications will be open to filmmakers globally.
Grants of between £2,000 to £15,000 are available.
Successful grantees will receive training, support, mentorship, and their films will be previewed at Wildscreen Festival 2024.
KEY DATES
- Applications open Thursday 7th of September.
Deadline for applications: 5pm BST, 5 October 2023
PROJECT CRITERIA
Projects must;
- Have an aspect of an Edge Species or Edge Zone as the central focus
- Be a film-based short (minimum 1 minute, maximum 40 minutes). It can be any genre, including animation and genres other than traditional Natural History
- Not have any finance already secured or agreements in place from a broadcaster, platform, sales agent etc. and cannot have previously been broadcast, transmitted or commercially distributed in any form
To read the full Terms and Conditions, including further project eligibility criteria click the button below.
APPLICANT CRITERIA
To be elgible to apply, applicants must;
- Be 18 years of age on or before the 1st October 2023.
- Not have any professional (i.e. broadcast) Producer or Director credits (please note that this does not include student projects).
- Have less than five cumulative years of paid experience within the film and television industry.
- Have a maximum of one Assistant Producer credit.
- Not be in full time education at any point between October 1st 2023 and November 1st 2024.
An application can be submitted by one person or a team. If a team, only two people can participate in the virtual live pitching session in October 2023. Full applicant eligibility is outlined in the terms and conditions
WHAT YOU NEED TO APPLY
To apply you must provide a;
To apply you will need to provide a Project Treatment, Project Budget and Project Plan.
Guidance and templates are available to download below. If you require translated versions of these resoruces please contact [email protected]. Please note that you don’t have to use these templates for your Project Plan or Project Budget. Budgets must be submitted in GBP. A currency convertor is available on the Budget Template.
HOW TO APPLY
Applications are now open! To apply;
Complete the online application form (available via the button below). An application overview is also available below. Please note that all applications must be submitted via the online application form. Applications submitted in any other format will not be accepted.
Submissions can be made in any language.
EDGE OF NATURE: SHORT FILM FUND
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Take a look at our current opportunities.
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Opportunity 3
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Sponsors
A massive thank you to On the Edge for partnering with Wildscreen on the EDGE of Nature: Short Film Fund.
On the Edge is a non-profit media and conservation organisation telling modern, pop-culture stories about the awe and wonder of nature to inspire a new audience.
They exist because, as people, we’ve never been more disconnected and isolated from the natural world than we are now. It is this disconnection that allows us to overlook the destruction of nature. On the Edge are on a mission to emotionally reconnect humanity with it.
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Image credits
Nikki Tan, Singapore
Madame Margaux
Tania Ãlvarez Guerrero, Mexico
The Maya Forest: When A Tapir Gazes Upon You
Will Clothier, South Africa/UK
Ramfy
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