Jackson Wild

At last year's Jackson WildSummit, WLC members Annie Roth, Alex Goetz & Justin Grubb received the Curiosity Inc. Emerging Filmmaker grant, having recently created their first collaborative film about the plight of the hellbender salamander at the hands of the fracking industry. Annie said, "We never thought we would win. After all, we were pitching a natural history rom-com about a nocturnal species found halfway around the world." But, they won and spend the past year creating Little Penguin Love Island, which is now streaming on Curiosity Stream. It may just be the cutest thing you'll ever watch ?? https://lnkd.in/enKtnNVC #NaturePodcast #Australia #Penguins #Zoology #Conservation #Wildlife #NatureLovers #NatureConservation #WildlifeConservation

Just over a year ago, we announced the winner of the first official Curiosity Inc. Emerging Filmmaker Grant in partnership with Jackson Wild. The competition was tough, but we fell head over heels for a story from Annie Roth about the love lives of Little Blue Penguins. Now, almost exactly a year later, *Little Penguin Love Island* has premiered on Curiosity Stream. I can’t say enough good things about the incredible work from Annie, Justin Grubb, and Alex Goetz. The three of them tackled the project head-on, weaving a beautiful and layered story—not just about Little Blue Penguins, but also the dedicated humans working tirelessly to protect them as urbanization increasingly threatens their natural habitats. To Annie and the Running Wild team, you’re a dream collaboration, and I can’t wait to see what you create next! Check it out now on Curiosity Stream!

Have you ever been watching a film and thought to yourself - "How the hell did they get that shot?" Join Jackson Wild and Wildmotion virtually on Wednesday, September 18 for one of our favorite panels every year, where six cinematographers from the four finalist films in this year's cinematography craft category of the Jackson Wild Media Awards will take the 'stage' to break down their truly brilliant shots and sequences that amaze. Register to meet and learn from Andre Rerekura and Jeandré Gerding from Mammals: Water, Corey Robinson from Our Living World: The Rhythm of Life, Jake Davis from Planet Earth III: Extremes, and Gail Kukula and Mohan Sandhu from Queens: Tiny Jungle Queens. This panel is produced and co-hosted by Tom Stephens of Wildstar Films and Brian Henderson of Wildmotion. RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/gPSD5VBV

We are THRILLED to announce the recipient of our 2024 Legacy Award, Mike Pandey, as well as the recipient of our 2024 Rising Star Award, Ryan Wilkes! Among Jackson Wild’s highest honors, this year’s recipients have demonstrated the power of storytelling to inspire real world change and share Jackson Wild’s commitment to building an impact driven community of filmmakers, creators, and conservationists who are dedicated to using media to support efforts to create a more sustainable planet. They have been nominated by their peers and selected by the Jackson Wild Board of Directors. We look forward to celebrating them at the Jackson Wild Media Awards Gala on September 5! “Mike Pandey’s incredible passion for wildlife conservation and environmental protection over the past 45 years has left an indelible mark not just in India, but across the globe,” said Jackson Wild’s Executive Director, Geoff Daniels. “His powerful films have driven critical legislative changes and inspired millions, setting a benchmark for how storytelling can catalyze real-world impact. It has been a true honor to witness his tireless efforts and celebrate his remarkable legacy.” Read more about Mike at the link in our bio This year’s rising star recipient, Ryan Wilkes, is an award-winning Jamaican Canadian storyteller and documentary filmmaker whose unique blend of scientific expertise and artistic talent has captivated audiences worldwide (@itsryanwilkes) through his work in conservation, wildlife, and science communication. Read more about Ryan at the link in bio Thank you to National Geographic Society for sponsoring the Legacy Award, and to HHMI Tangled Bank Studios for sponsoring our Rising Star Award. We are delighted to have your support!

We're excited to announce that Head of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios Jared Lipworth will become the new Chairman of Jackson Wild’s Board of Directors on August 15, 2024. He succeeds Bill Gardner, former PBS VP of Multiplatform Programming and Head of Development, who successfully steered Jackson Wild through the pandemic and media industry contraction and will move to the role of Board Chair Emeritus. ”Jackson Wild is, has been, and will continue to be one of the most important, influential and positive forces in the natural history, conservation and storytelling space,” said Lipworth. “I am honored to take the helm of the board as we continue to grow our organization and community as a unique and powerful forum for collaboration, mentorship and celebration.” Kaitlin Yarnall, National Geographic Society's Chief Storytelling Officer is also joining the leadership team as Board Secretary to help accelerate Jackson Wild’s transformation into an impact media organization dedicated to driving innovation, thought leadership and career development through year-round programming initiatives in support of Jackson’s filmmaking community. “There is simply no organization quite like Jackson Wild,” said Kaitlin Yarnall “It’s an honor to help shepherd this incredible institution into a future space where the global impact of natural history and conservation media is refined, amplified, and recognized. At its very best, storytelling leads to action, which has always been core to Jackson Wild’s mission.”

We are thrilled to announce the 2024 Jackson Wild Media Awards Finalists! The 2024 Media Awards has been a record-breaking year with close to 500 films entering the competition, making this year's program one of the most exciting and competitive yet! Finalists were selected by more than 200 international judges, who collectively screened over 1,000 hours of media. Winners will be announced at the Jackson Wild Media Awards Gala on the evening of Thursday, September 5 at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland. Photos courtesy of Among the Wolves, a 2024 Jackson Wild Media Awards Finalist. Check out the full lineup here: https://lnkd.in/gGZxg3t9

On Tuesday, June 11 at 12pm EDT / 6pm CEST, the Jackson Wild Collective and Wildmotion (@wildmotiondocs) are bringing to you a special session on aerial cinematography in natural history filmmaking! https://lnkd.in/g8ezeB-n Led by two of the industry’s leading drone & aerial cinematographers, this talk will cover everything from the ins and outs of filming with drones to high-velocity aerial filming ?? Peter Degerfeldt, Blue Sky Aerial Director of Photography and owner of Blue Sky- Aerial & Specialist Filming, founded 1984. Peter Degerfeldt has been filming action adventures, mostly in the air for the last 40 years. From the fast jets of the various Air Forces to Antarctica and Mount Everest, he met every challenge with a film camera. More than 4000 skydives, many BASE jumps, + 2 200 hours of logged air time in helicopters and supersonic jets. Credits from Oscar-nominated Hollywood feature films with David Fincher, Matteo Garrone, IMAX, commercials, Nature documentaries, Olympics, and world records at your service. Owner of a unique 6-axis GSS gyro system that can take any camera and lens on the market as well as the only system that can produce rock-solid footage in 700 km/hour. Alex Johnston, Design Tune Operate Wildlife // Commercial // Feature ? Passionate innovator & drone developer ? High-end FPV Drone Design & Pilot. Alex has been providing custom drone services since 2016 and flew on his first feature in 2021. His credits include BBC, National Geographic, Apple, Disney, Legendary, Paramount, and many more. Alex started out tracking Lloyd and Rose Buck’s trained birds of prey with DP Chris Watts, he still loves working with this team. Tracking fast, small animals is demanding and provided the ideal opportunity to build his skillset for the high complexity FPV and close proximity traditional flying that he enjoys now. All of Alex's drones are custom-built or modified in some way, even the DJI rigs have the option of better control systems, more range, longer focal lengths, and more precision if needed. ?? RSVP at https://lnkd.in/g8ezeB-n

NEW CATEGORY SPOTLIGHT Check out one of the new and exciting ccategories added to this year’s media awards. All films entered under this category must be longer than 20 minutes in duration and completed after June 1, 2023. Submit your film by May 15! https://lnkd.in/gGeck6VF

Watch Now For Free! All of the World Wildlife Day Film Showcase Official Selections are available for streaming The World Wildlife Day Film Showcase is one of the global events that accompanies the 2024 UN World Wildlife Day celebrations and help illustrate its theme, “Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation”. Stream the films and experience the apps, games and 360 video for free on our online platform. https://lnkd.in/g3SEcWap Don't forget to vote for your favorite in this year's Audience Choice Award!

Mark your calendars! Tuesday, May 7 at 12pm EDT / 6pm CEST ?? We are thrilled to announce that the next Collective talk in our virtual series will give members an inside look into the making of National Geographic’s recently released limited series, QUEENS. Through this talk moderated by Mandi Stark, members will meet and learn from seven of the cinematographers who worked on this incredible series. We’ll learn about the process behind their craft, and what their experience was like filming the show.???Swipe to learn more about each of the cinematographers! QUEENS can be streamed on Hulu and Disney+ QUEENS is eligible in this year’s Primetime Emmys ceremony in the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series category, as well as all major crafts including Cinematography, Editing, Music Composition, and more. RSVP at https://lnkd.in/dArA6nrJ