Wildlife Film Festival Launches International Tour

April 21, 2006 JACKSON, Wyo. The premier natural history films from the 2005 JH Wildlife Film Festival are travelling around the country and overseas as part of the organization's Best of Festival Tour. Featured screenings include projects produced by prominent local wildlife filmmakers Wolfgang Bayer, Tristan Bayer and Shane Moore

Earthling, award-winner in multiple JHWFF categories, was filmed by Wolfgang and Tristan Bayer and follows the story of this charismatic natural history filmmaking family in expeditions around the world. The popular feature was recently showcased at the fourth Calcutta Environmental Film Festival to standing room only audiences and will be screened in Homer, Alaska, in the "Best of JHWFF" at the inaugural Kachemak Nature Film Festival, May 4-7, a community event and local fundraiser for the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust.

Additionally, The U.S. State Department hosted a special screening of Earthling as part of its special Earth Day celebrations, with employees attending the event, last week. This screening launches an ongoing collaboration between the JHWFF and the State Department to send a select group of films to embassies around the world for a series of screenings in association with international Earth Day, and other conservation and environmental education special events.

"Earthling is a film with tremendous international appeal," said William Armbruster, Public Affairs representative for the State Department Office of Oceans and International Environmental & Scientific Affairs. "With stunning photography of some of the world's most unique habitats, it will be screened at embassies as part of a community outreach and education program. We are delighted to take films like this to remote communities. The beauty and poetry of the cinematography tells the story even to audiences whose command of English isn't perfect."

A number of JHWFF films were selected for screening at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History during the 14th Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C. In collaboration with over 50 local, national, and international organizations, including JHWFF, the Environmental Film Festival presented 100 outstanding films from around the world at venues all throughout the city, including Shane Moore's PBS special, The Good, the Bad and the Grizzly.

Since its beginnings in 1991, JHWFF has remained an unparalleled industry gathering of over 600 television and film professionals from around the world. The Festival's film competition is extremely competitive, with nearly 400 films entered into competition each event. From hundreds of entries, only 3 films are selected as finalists in each of the Festival's 17 competition categories. The next Festival and Film Competition will be held in 2007.