Autumnwatch 2008

It's started! Love-him-or-hate-him Bill Oddie and glowing BBC icon Kate Humble returned to our screens last night for the opening of Autumnwatch 2008.

Having just had one of the coldest Summers in years, some of us may feel cheated at how soon Autumn seems to have arrived, but the Autumnwatch team have already been hard at work for weeks preparing our new Autumn adventures for the screen!

Based at Brownsea Island, home to one of the last groups of red squirrels in the British Isles, Autumnwatch 2008 is promising to take us on a journey through the season's true wild mysteries unravelling stories on land and beneath the surface fo the oceans around Britain. For a start we'll be following the Autumnwatch squirrel challenge as the crew attempts to find out if the Red Squirrel can compete with the grey's famous agility and cunning.

Simon King has returned to us from the Masai Mara to take on the much less dangerous challenge of examining the rutting and lekking behaviours of the beautiful fallow deer population at Petworth. Last night we learned that a single male may mate with up to 15% of the females in the population. Using the Big Cat Live technology we saw images of the deer at night from the infra-red cams and followed them into the dawn to examine how and why a single male can be so successful! Simon tells us it all comes down to stamina(!) and we should stay tuned for more from Britains beautiful deer populations.

The lovely Gordon Buchanan has been struggling his way out to the Farne Islands to check up on the grey seals out there whose freshly born pups are learning to suckle and of course to cope with the elements. These pups will have to become completely independent in just three weeks in order to cope with the loss of thir parents to the annual migrations. Autumnwatch are promising us serious drama from the grey seal populations where the pups are at the most vulnerable time of their lives.

Another exciting first, we'll be seeing reptilian behaviours this Autumnwatch as Dorset is home to all six of the UKs native reptiles...and some invaders!

TUNE IN TONIGHT for a look at the famous Hannibal the cannibal barn owl as well as some amazing slow motion footage from the bird feeder cameras.

If you want to get involved in Autumnwatch check out the Autumnwatch website, at which you can upload your own footage of Autumnal behaviours, chat on the messageboards about your sightings and even contribute your photos to their Flickr group.
Missed an episode?! You can catch last night's Autumnwatch now on the BBC iPlayer.

Not for the faint-hearted: China's Killer Zoos news report

This report won the Wildscreen 2008 News award.
The judges stated that this was a report everyone should see.

Wildscreen Volunteering Uncut: Day 5

Thursday
The final day of Wildscreen

Speedpitching
A new format for Wildscreen, Speedpitching gives filmmakers the opportunity to attempt to get their ideas commissioned by some of the best in the industry.
Understandably this can be a difficult and intimidating process for pitchers when they have only three minutes to present their ideas to commissioners such as Tim Martin the series editor of Natural World, Shannon Malone from National Geographic, David Glover from C4 and Animal Planet International's director of programming Mark Wild. However, the opportunity to pitch to commissioners that would usually be difficult to get hold of, and in an environment where critiques and advice are freely given, is one not to be taken lightly.
A pitch must always be commissioner specific - a hurdle at which many pitches can fall by the wayside - but with such a valuable resource available, many Wildscreen delegates found themselves adapting their pitches on the spot to have the chance to push their ideas at other exciting commissioners.

Videotheque
Throughout the week delegates have access to all the Wildscreen Film Festival entrants at the videotheque. This is open every day allowing delegates to drop in at any time, with the biggest rush hours between workshops and talks. In previous years DVD players have been used but this year Wildscreen has upgraded its Videotheque to use an online library for much easier viewing: a major benefit being that more than one delegate can view a single programme at once!
The final day of Wildscreen sees the videotheque packed with delegates hoping to see the winning programmes which were announced at the Pandas the night before.

Wildscreen's final day is busy everywhere with queues throughout the Watershed for the closing talks, debates and screenings.

The Watershed on Bristol's waterfront has yet again been the perfect host and is well worth a visit on Friday for the screenings of the Panda Award winners...
Alastair Fothergill at Wildscreen
...and it's always nice to see a few familiar famous faces in your favourite cafe!

Wildscreen 2008 Panda Awards

And the winners are...

BBC NEWCOMER AWARD: The White Wood
Filmmaker: Lou Astbury (UK)

CAMPAIGN AWARD: Rethink the Shark
Save Our Seas Foundation (Switzerland) Co-produced with Saatchi & Saatchi

UWE CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARD: Bama’s Journey
Commissioned by Al Jazeera International

PRESENTER-LED AWARD: Adventure Yukon: The Long Journey
Studio Hamburg Produktion GmbH/NDR Naturfilm (Germany) Co-produced with Parthenon Entertainment and ORF
Presenter: Andreas Kieling

FIVE AWARD FOR POPULAR BROADCAST PROGRAMME: Meerkat Manor: Journey’s End
Southern Star International (Australia) An Oxford Scientific Films production for Animal Planet International


EARTH SCIENCE AWARD: Earth: The Power of the Planet – Atmosphere
BBC (UK) Co-produced with National Geographic US, ZDF & BBC Worldwide

NEWS AWARD: China’s Killer Zoos
Sky News (UK)

ARKIVE NEW MEDIA AWARD: Earth-Touch weekly podcast
Earth-Touch (South Africa)

PARTHENON ENTERTAINMENT AWARD FOR INNOVATION: Smalltalk Diaries: Predators
Ammonite Ltd (UK) Co-produced with the BBC in association with Off the Fence and Big Squid New Media

WILDSCREEN’S AWARD TO PROMOTE FILMMAKERS FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: Irani Wildlife
Seyed Mani Mirsadeghi (Iran)

GRANADA AWARD FOR ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR: Eye of the Leopard
Wildlife Films (Botswana)

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM ENVIRONMENT AWARD: Battle to Save the Tiger
Mike Birkhead Associates (UK) Commissioned by BBC Natural History Unit

THEATRICAL AWARD: The Theatrical Award was not presented this year. After much deliberation the judges did not feel that this year’s finalists met the criteria of the award, and so have not put forward a winner.

ANIMAL PLANET INTERNATIONAL PEOPLE AND ANIMALS AWARD: Saving Luna
Mountainside Films Ltd (Canada) Commissioned by CBC

CHRISTOPHER PARSON’S AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT: Masaru Ikeo – Executive Officer, Business Development, Media International Corporation
(Formerly of NHK, Japan)

BEST EDITING AWARD: Expedition Guyana (Programme 1)
BBC Natural History Unit (UK) Co-produced with BBC Worldwide & Discovery
Editor: Peter Brownlee

FILMS AT 59 AWARD FOR BEST SOUND: Galapagos: Born of Fire
BBC Natural History Unit (UK) Co-produced with BBC Worldwide & National Geographic US

BEST SCRIPT AWARD: Saving Luna
Mountainside Films Ltd (Canada) Commissioned by CBC
Scriptwriter: Michael Parfit

BEST MUSIC AWARD: Christmas in Yellowstone
Thirteen/WNET New York (USA)
Music: Lenny Williams

Disappointment for the crew of Life in Cold Blood as Smalltalk Diaries takes their only nomination...
BEST SERIES AWARD: Smalltalk Diaries
Ammonite Ltd (UK) Co-produced with the BBC in association with Off the Fence and Big Squid New Media

PANASONIC AWARD FOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: Earth Pilgrim
AGB Films Ltd (UK) Co-produced with BBC Natural History Unit & BBC Worldwide
Camera: Warwick Sloss

JURY’S SPECIAL PRIZE: Lobo – The Wolf that Changed America
Brian Leith Productions (UK)
A BBC and Thirteen/WNET New York co-production in association with PBS
Scriptwriters: Steve Gooder & Brian Leith

GOLDEN PANDA: Life in Cold Blood - Armoured Giants
BBC Natural History Unit (UK) Co-produced with BBC Worldwide, Animal Planet & the Open University.

Wildscreen Volunteering Uncut: Day 4

Wednesday

Watershed Cinema 2 runs screenings of nominated films daily during the Wildscreen Film Festival.

"Can We Save Planet Earth?", nominee for the Earth Science Award, is a fantastic film about the future of our planet. It includes an amazing guide to a possible solution to climate change. "Can We Save Planet Earth?" just missed the deadline for entries to the 2006 Panda awards; lets hope their message is still in the front of our minds enough for them to take a Panda home. It should be noted that "Can We Save Planet Earth?" might be better suited to the Natural History Museum Environment Award, but with so many great entries competition is fierce!

"The Wolfman"
was nominated for the Five Award For Popular Broadcast. This features Sean, a British wolf enthusiast who has gone so far in his attempts to understand wolf behaviour that he has brought up and lived with three wolves, learnt their language and become integrated into their pack. This astounding story follows their way of life, and how the pack dynamics change when Sean must go away for a while. A definite must see!


The afternoon's debate "Too Little, Too Late?" saw Sir David Attenborough and the legendary Gaia theorist James Lovelock on panel with John Hanke (Director of Google Earth and Google maps) and HRH Prince Carlos de Bourbon de Parme. Queues for this event spread the length of the watershed but fortunately all were able to find a seat.

James Lovelock debates whether our impact on climate change has gone too far...

The debate? Whether our impact on the planet is irreparable. David Attenborough made the point that this question is dependent upon how we define "far" in that we may be able to change our ways in time to save 25% of the species on the road to extinction but greater percentages are out of reach. James Lovelock, whom many might expect to predict serious doom stated that he does have hope for the next few decades but they won't be easy.
All agree that the nature of our planet's future is dependent wholly upon our actions from now and that immediate action is the key. No one has all the answers but so long as wildlife imagery and tools like Google Earth can make the issues known to the public, the politicians can not escape their responsibilities.
John Hanke demonstrates the astounding uses of Google Earth in conservation
John Hanke emphasized that with ever-improving technology and exponential increases in access to information, the public are able to do what NGOs have been doing for years, and are able to discover environmental truths for themselves in order to make politicians accountable.

A fantastic debate and a brilliant day!