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Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Announces Special Awards
Jackson Hole, WY, July 8, 2003 – The Jackson
Hole Wildlife Film Festival is pleased to announce the recipients
of several key awards to be honored at this year’s event,
in September.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Dr. George Schaller will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement
Award. As vice president for science and exploration of the
Wildlife Conservation Society, his four decades of field research
has shaped wildlife protection around the world. Focusing
on a particular species’ role within its environment,
encompassing indigenous people, as well as vegetation and
other animals, Schaller created the paradigm of conservation
biology. Apart from his landmark studies of mountain gorillas
(initiating Dian Fossey’s crusade), tigers, lions, jaguars,
cheetahs and leopards, he has also researched wild sheep and
goats, snow leopards, giant pandas, rhinos and flamingos.
Dr. Schaller is recognized as the world’s foremost field
biologist. His dedication to wildlife conservation has led
to the establishment of five of the world’s wildlife
reserves, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in
Alaska, and Chang Tang Wildlife Reserve in Tibet. At over
118,000 square miles, Chang Tang was deemed "One of the
most ambitious attempts to arrest the shrinkage of natural
ecosystems," by The New York Times. Dr. Schaller was
among the first scientists to discover the rare saola in Laos
– a species unknown to science until 1993. He also discovered
a species of warty pig and red deer, both thought extinct.
CONSERVATION ACTION AWARDS
The 2003 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival's focus on the
Congo Basin highlights the remarkable efforts being made to
conserve and sustainably manage the biodiversity rich forests
of Central Africa. For the first time ever, the Festival will
present special Conservation Action Awards in recognition
of the important work that is underway.
The recently formed Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP)
is a consortium of 15 Governments (US, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, Republic of Congo, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany,
France, Canada, Belgium, South Africa and European Commission),
3 International Organizations (World Bank, International Tropical
Timber Organization and World Conservation Union) and 10 Nongovernmental/Civil
Organizations (Jane Goodall Institute, Conservation International,
Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wildlife Fund, World
Resources Institute, Forest Trends, Society of American Foresters,
American Forest & Paper Association, Association Technique
Internationale des Bois Tropicaux and the Center for International
Forestry).
This unique cooperative alliance has committed tremendous
resources to support a network of protected and managed ecosystems,
as well as the creation of economic opportunities for communities
who depend upon the conservation of the outstanding forest
and wildlife resources of the Congo Basin. This international
partnership of effort and commitment holds tremendous potential
in creating new alliances. Not only in the coordination and
collaboration of resources to preserve the ecosystems of the
Congo Basin while improving the lives of the people who live
there, but to other significant forests of our world.
The Congo Basin Forest Partnership will receive a Conservation
Action Award at a special evening celebration on Saturday,
September 27. President Omar El Hadj Bongo will receive a
Conservation Action Award for his precedent-setting decision
to set aside over 10,000 square miles to create a system of
13 National Parks in Gabon. This is a visionary and forward
thinking action of global significance that deserves international
recognition. President Bongo and his wife will attend the
event, visiting Yellowstone—the first National Park—during
their stay. President Denis Sassou-Nguesso has been invited
to receive recognition for his country's important leadership
role in the CBFP collaboration, noting the precedent set by
the Republic of Congo in identifying commercialized bush meat
sales as a critical conservation problem and in creating laws
to address the issue, as well as setting aside more than 12%
of their forests as protected areas.
NHK TO RECEIVE CORPORATE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The Festival will also give its first Corporate Achievement
Award to the Japanese broadcaster NHK in recognition of its
50th anniversary. The company has not only been a leader in
the development of technology – most recently in the
field of high definition acquisition, editing and broadcasting
– but is one of the world’s major producers of natural
history films.
On Tuesday, September 23, NHK will present a live, satellite
HD uplink/downlink with the scientific team it has had stationed
in Antarctica since the beginning of the year.
MICHAEL BRINKMAN EMERGING FILMMAKER AWARDS
The Michael Brinkman Awards will recognize four emerging filmmakers
with compelling natural history project ideas, by providing
access to a package of leading technology digital acquisition,
monitoring and non-linear field editing products, to realize
their creative vision.
Each filmmaker will be provided a complete camera package,
for 4 months exclusive use on the project of their choice.
In addition they will be provided with a laptop editing system
for an equivalent duration, and online finishing and post
production assistance. Award winners will also be provided
the creative input of a number of consultants/mentors who
believe, as Michael Brinkman did, in the importance of contributing
to creative and professional development by helping emerging
filmmakers fully realize their capabilities.
The filmmakers will be given fellowship passes to attend
the subsequent bi-annual Festival, with a special opportunity
to screen the projects they create, and to describe their
projects and experiences at a moderated round table.
Complete details and applications will be available at the
Festival website on August 1, 2003.
The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival is a non-profit organization
whose primary mission is: "To encourage the production
of natural history programming around the world by providing
nonfiction filmmakers and broadcasters with an international
film forum to conduct business, test new equipment, refine
program production techniques and continue to seek new and
more effective ways to promote awareness and sensitivity to
wildlife and wildlife habitats." With some 700 industry
professionals participating in the biennial, week-long festival
and over 550 entrants in its film competition, the event hosted
by the organization is considered the most prestigious event
of the natural history film genre.
The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival is sponsored by 22
global organizations. They range from major broadcasting corporations
and production companies to post-production houses and conservation
organizations. The Festival's Board of Directors includes:
American Geological Institute, Animal Planet, BBC Natural History
Unit, Crawford Communications, Discovery Channel, Dolby Laboratories,
Eastman Kodak Company, ERWDA, Fujinon, Granada Wild, LaserPacific
Media Corporation, Lobo Media Productions, National Geographic
Television, National Wildlife Federation, Natural History
New Zealand, Nature/WNET, NHK/Japanese Broadcasting, ORF/Austrian
Television, Panasonic Broadcast and Television Systems, Sony
Electronics, the Turner Foundation, and Writer’s Guild
of America, west.
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