- Wildscreen’s Panda Awards 2022, known as ‘the Green Oscars’, took place on 13 October, with several local organisations’ films being recognised
- ‘My Garden of a Thousand Bees’, filmed in Bristol, swept the board with 4 wins
- Wildscreen recognises innovation in sustainable filmmaking practices and provides a platform for international talent
Thursday 13 OCTOBER, BRISTOL, UK: Wildscreen has announced the winners of their 2022 Panda Awards, which took place on 13 October at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, showcasing the best in natural world storytelling craft from across the world. Of the 13 winners across 17 categories, 5 of the leading shorts, features and series were from Bristol-based teams.
‘My Garden of a Thousand Bees’, a charming lockdown documentary filmed in Bristol following wildlife Filmmaker Martin Dohrn, received the most prestigious prize in the natural world film and television industry – the Plimsoll Golden Panda Award. The feature film, which explores the secret lives of over 60 species of bees, swept the nominations with Bristol’s BBC Studio’s ‘The Green Planet’ for the number of categories back in July. This comes at a time when Karine Aigner won the Grand Title award at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year ceremony earlier this week, for an outstanding picture capturing male cactus bees enveloping a single female.
Further local winners included, ‘Polar Bear’ for the Films at 59 Cinematography Award, ‘Snakes and Ladders’ for the Tangled Bank Studios Emerging Talent Award and ‘Welcome to Earth’ for the Films at the 59 Sound Award.
The first-ever winner of the Sustainability Award, ‘Springwatch 2021’, was recognised for the continued work and innovative measures to reduce their production’s carbon footprint. The jury awarded The Watches team this prize to help set the bar for blue chip productions. Although it was joint first with the Plimsoll Golden Panda winner for nominations, ‘The Green Planet’ walked away with the coveted Terra Mater Studios Series Award.
Other major successes on the night included Terra Mater Studios and Bonne Pioche’s ‘The Bastard King’ which received a special jury award – the Panda in the Pocket, to recognise outstanding storytelling, alongside the category in which it was nominated – the Music Award. Shining a light on the threats to the elusive Florida Panther, Eric Bendick’s ‘Path of the Panther’, received awards for both categories it was nominated for, taking home the Save Our Seas Foundation Impact Award, and the Off the Fence Production Team Award.
Lucie Muir, CEO of Wildscreen Festival said:
“As a key part of Wildscreen Festival for 40 years, the Panda Awards has continued to celebrate the best in natural world storytelling among the globe’s leading innovators and creators, as well as fresh talent entering the sector. This year’s inspiring selection of shorts, features and series uncovered some of nature’s most fascinating and enduring stories, bringing them to a worldwide audience. Congratulations to everyone who was recognised and we look forward to seeing the evolution of natural world storytelling over the next few years.”
The Wildscreen Panda Awards ceremony 2022 was hosted by wildlife television presenters Lizzie Daly and Dan O’Neill. The ceremony concludes the 2022 Wildscreen Festival–the world’s biggest global gathering of natural world storytellers. Held in Bristol, the 40th anniversary edition convenes more than 1000 filmmakers, photographers, broadcasters and content creators, from over 40 countries, for an unrivaled programme of 130 events, featuring 180 industry thought-leaders. The headline sponsor of Wildscreen Festival 2022 is BBC Studios Natural History Unit and principal sponsors are National Geographic, Save Our Seas Foundation and Terra Mater Studios.
The full list of Wildscreen Panda Award winners is:
BEHAVIOUR AWARD
My Garden of a Thousand Bees
Passion Planet, The WNET Group, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films
United Kingdom
FILMS AT 59 CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARD
Polar Bear
Silverback Films
United Kingdom
DELUXE EDITING AWARD
My Garden of a Thousand Bees
Passion Planet, The WNET Group, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films
Key Editor(s): Steve White
United Kingdom
TANGLED BANK STUDIOS EMERGING TALENT AWARD
Snakes & Ladders
University of the West of England
United Kingdom, Israel
SAVE OUR SEAS FOUNDATION IMPACT AWARD
Path of the Panther
Grizzly Creek Films, Wildpath, Common Pictures
United States
MUSIC AWARD
The Bastard King
Terra Mater Studios, Bonne Pioche, Shibumi Films
Key Credit(s) for Music: Laurent Garnier, Pierre LeFeuvre
Austria, Germany, France
UWE ON-SCREEN TALENT AWARD
Tiger 24
W Films, The Tiger Fund
United States
PHOTO STORY AWARD
Historical Rescue of Caimans in Pantanal
Photographer: Fernando Jara Faciole
Brazil
EMERGING TALENT PHOTO STORY AWARD
The Lwiro Reserve
Guerchom Ndebo
Democratic Republic of Congo
CVP PRODUCER/DIRECTOR AWARD
My Garden of a Thousand Bees
Passion Planet, The WNET Group, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films
United Kingdom
OFF THE FENCE PRODUCTION TEAM AWARD
Path of the Panther
Grizzly Creek Films, Wildpath, Common Pictures
Production Team: Eric Bendick, Carlton Ward Jr., Tori Linder, Thomas Winston, Jeff Reed, Malia Byrtus, Danny Schmidt, Dawson Dunning, Rick Smith, Katie Bryden, Andrew Harrison Brown, Scott Sterling, Ashley Siana, Alex Freeze, Kevin Matley, Brian Eimer, Lauren Yoho, George McKenzie Jr
United States
SCRIPTED NARRATIVE AWARD
Penguin Town: Hot and Bothered
Netflix, Red Rock Films, Red Rock Films International
Key Scriptwriter(s): Andy Mitchell
South Africa
TERRA MATER STUDIOS SERIES AWARD
The Green Planet
BBC Studios, PBS, bilibili, ZDF, China Media Group CCTV9,
France Televisions & The Open University
United Kingdom
FILMS AT 59 SOUND AWARD
Welcome to Earth: The Silent Roar
Nutopia
Key Credit(s) for Sound: Sam Castleton, Tom Foster, Jay Price, Phil Bax, Sean Millar, Parker Brown
United Kingdom
AURUM SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
Springwatch 2021
BBC Studios Natural History Unit
United Kingdom
PANDA IN THE POCKET AWARD
The Bastard King
Terra Mater Studios, Bonne Pioche, Shibumi Films
Austria, Germany, France
PLIMSOLL GOLDEN PANDA AWARD
My Garden of a Thousand Bees
Passion Planet, The WNET Group, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films
United Kingdom
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About Wildscreen
Wildscreen is a conservation charity with a global impact. We connect creatives within the wildlife film, television and photography industry with conservationists to raise awareness about the environmental crisis and inspire positive change.
Wildscreen envisions a world where natural world storytelling is inclusive, accessible and impactful and where nature is protected and thriving. Our mission is to connect people with nature through storytelling, and democratise the creation of and access to nature’s stories.
About the 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.
The awards consist of 15 craft and specialist categories and 17 awards including our coveted Golden Panda for best overall production.
