Matthew Todd Paproski is a journalist and independent filmmaker with Vancouver-based Venturetainment. He is currently working on the doc Cougar Crossing.

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Bristol, Eng.: Who would think that films about natural history and the earth’s remaining wild animals are among the most popular and profitable programs on global primetime television? Certainly not many Canadians, as reflected by their lack of presence at the 1996 Wildscreen Festival.

Held Oct. 12-18 in Bristol, Eng., the event is ‘the premier environmental and wildlife film and television festival in the world,’ according to chairman Ivan Hattingh.

‘Wildscreen’s objective is to encourage good filmmaking that sensitizes people to the nature we are going to lose,’ says Hattingh. ‘A great deal of business is done here, and so this is an opportunity where some wrongs can be put right, some imbalances can be corrected.

‘It offers Canadian filmmakers an opportunity to meet the best filmmakers, the greatest buyers of film and the commissioning editors of television from all over the world,’ he adds.

Wildscreen has been held every two years for the last 14 years. It is scheduled to alternate with the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, held every two years in the u.s.

This year, Wildscreen set a record with 750 delegates from 36 countries. For delegates, the festival also offered screenings and cd-rom viewings; seminars on a wide range of business, technical and ethical issues; workshops and master classes; and a trade show. Not to mention daily happy hours and parties in the local pubs and mansions.

There were also special events, such as a presentation made by respected marine biologist Dr. Sylvia Earle and a Natural History Story Structure Day School by Robert McKee.

The nomination committee for Wildscreen’s Panda Awards chose 45 finalists out of 319 entries. On the final evening of the festival, the winners were announced during a glamorous ceremony at the Bristol Colston Hall before an audience of 2,000 and Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh.

Surprisingly, there were only three Canadian finalistsand none won an award. The finalists were Seven Crows a Secret by the nfb, Turning Up the Heat by the cbc and Wolves and Buffalo: An Ancient Alliance by Skyline Films and the bbc.

The Delegates Choice Award and Turner Wildlife Adventure Award were both bestowed upon Puma, Lion of the Andes. It was produced by cameraman Hugh Miles and National Geographic Television.

The Fujifilm Award for Cinematography went to Lions, Pride in Peril, produced by Amanda Barrett, cameraman Owen Newman and the bbc.

The World Wildlife Golden Panda Award, best entry overall, went to A Little Fish in Deep Water, produced by Mark Deeble, Victoria Stone and Survival Anglia.

The Wildscreen Award for Outstanding Achievement was presented to Prince Philip.

Upon receiving the award, Prince Philip purposefully stated to the audience: ‘It is the films you people keep making that are the ones taking the message home to the public.’

It was good to see Canadian finalists Jeff and Susan Turner, producers of Wolves and Buffalo, sit at the head table area amidst royalty and the world’s best filmmakers.

Jeff spent months hiking through hundreds of miles of dense wilderness in Wood Buffalo National Park when he filmed Wolves and Buffalo. This park is the last place on earth where wolves and buffalo still interact.

The Turners previously produced three Nature of Things programs – on grizzlies, wolves and buffalo, and Island of Ghost Bears – with the bbc and wnet/Nature. Next they are doing Ravens of North America with the bbc.

There were only a few other Canadians attending Wildscreen as delegates. A prominent figure was Ava Karvonen, daughter of Albert, representing Karvonen Films from Edmonton.

Karvonen Films is now producing two series, Treasures of the Wild and Wild Encounters. In development are Wolf Tales and Stories from the Seventh Fire, Animal Passion and Virtual Zoo.

‘Ethics and technology have been changing so much,’ she continues. ‘The old-school way of going out and spending months waiting in the bush cannot be done in three or four weeks. The new trend of blue screen, taking out fences and inserting things, worries me. This trend of making Hollywood-type films is not documentary filmmaking.’

Many films promoted at Wildscreen had titles geared for mass-market appeal. Examples include Sugar Scandal, The Joy of Pigs, Animal Cannibals and Battle of the Sexes.

Paul Black of Great North Releasing in Edmonton, agrees with Karvonen:

‘With costs going up, the battle for getting stuff to air quickly, and broadcasters needing to hold their audience – we are now ending up with digitally produced natural history pieces. Ultimately, it is still better if you can make good blue-chip natural history documentaries. There is lots of money that can be made if it is evergreen type programming.’

Black arrived at Wildscreen after last month’s mipcom, selling the series Cotter’s Wilderness among other titles. He went ‘to visit producers, look to acquire products, meet broadcasters that will buy (Great North) products and set up coproductions.’

According to Black, ‘now, a lot of producers don’t want to work with the Paramounts or other big guys as they feel themselves falling into a shuffle of cards. By working with a small company like Great North that specializes in documentaries, it is more interesting.’

However, he admits ‘coming here is kind of depressing. To see most films done about Canada are done by foreign people, it’s kind of odd. It seems most Canadian producers want to tap into the funds to do dramas and sitcoms. Other than Karvonen and a few other producers, I am not seeing a younger era of Canadian wildlife filmmakers.

‘For those interested in this business, Wildscreen is an ideal place to come,’ says Black. ‘And so are the festivals in Missoula and Jackson Hole, and both are just a short drive away from Canada.’

From April 5-12, 1997, the Twentieth International Wildlife Film Festival is being held in Missoula, Montana. Founder Chuck Jonkel strongly suggests that Canadians come or else ‘watch our ankles.’ Jonkel delivers a festival that celebrates ethical filmmaking.

Next fall, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival in Wyoming will be ‘bigger and better,’ says organizer Mary Ford. She also wants more Canadians to attend.

‘Filmoption International is one of few Canadian companies that for many years has attended all of the wildlife film festivals,’ according to vp Lizanne Rouillard.

Filmoption, an 18-year-old distribution company based in Montreal, operates in five languages and sells programs to over 90 countries and to broadcasters and buyers including National Geographic, Discovery u.s., the bbc, Canal+ and nhk.

The company distributes films by Karvonen, Charlottes: Islands Out of Time by Ivory Tower Studio, King Penguins: The Return by Thierry Thomas, Homarus Americanus by Louis Falardeau, and Encounters with Whales in the St. Lawrence by Poly Productions.

Rouillard says, ‘It is a bit sad that most of the beautiful wildlife films being made in Canada by Canadians don’t have Canadians holding the rights because they are being sponsored by the bbc or other big wildlife broadcasters. On the other hand, being independent is a lot of work and more of a struggle than being paid a high salary.’

Vincent Fischer of Montreal’s Science tv went to Wildscreen ‘to see the best. You then say, how can we do it even better in Canada?’

Fischer describes Science tv as specialists in the science doc market. ‘Since there are so many distributors we have precise positioning. Also, our company Symbiose is now able to arrange sponsorships.’

Science tv represents 40 producers from Canada, the u.s., France, Italy, Germany, Israel and the u.k. It has about 160 titles in areas including archeology, health, space, etc. Its library includes Silver Borealis by Jean-Louis Frund and Discovery Channel Canada and Canal+, Heart of our Lives by Canamedia, Fresh Water Invertebrates by Carey Productions, and A River in my Backyard by Les Productions Impex.

It is now marketing Nature Stories, 13 shows budgeted at $1 million per hour about communications between animals, and is in preproduction on Moose and Grey Seals.

Carol Ann Davidson of Discovery Canada also attended Wildscreen. ‘Though we are distinctly Canadian and a high percentage of our programs are Canadian, I also need to meet filmmakers outside of Canada, those who are able to present the world’s best films to us. For example, the new Hugh Miles film Puma: Lion of the Andes. It had great visuals, music, insight and was not glorified.’

Nature goes high-def

Another Canadian in attendance, though now residing in Los Angeles, was Barry Clark of Telenova Productions. Born in Lethbridge, Alta., his experimental films with partners like Jim Henson took him from McGill to Harvard, to India and New York. And, with Wolfgang Bayer, Clark cofounded the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

‘These festivals are incredible marketplaces,’ says Clark. ‘Number one, for international coproduction deals, without which programs are not made, and secondly, because they are great places to exchange information about new technologies and markets. Filmmakers should look towards the future of what the delivery and the image capture systems will be.’

His recent production Jaguar Year of the Cat was designed for high-definition tv. It cost $1.6 million and was coproduced with Canal+, nhk in Japan and wnet in New York. It was the second highest rated show on pbs that season. He now has 12 hours of hd programs in development, nine of which are nature topics to be filmed in exotic places like the Sahara Desert, the Himalayas and the Andes.

Clark contends ‘natural history is driving a lot of the success of hd and vice versa. The idea of large screens that bring adventure and escape and the drama of nature into the home is a perfect use of hd. It is designed to draw the viewer into the experience, unlike our present televisions with a one-gulp image that you accept in one glance.’

‘End of film’

‘In all, I see the end of film. Film is near the limits of its resolution. hd filters out noise, extra signals and it has no lint or scratches. Digital cameras are proving to be extremely robust: they have been tested in the Arctic, the Antarctic and the Amazon. And, in the next year, hd camcorders are going to be introduced into the international marketplace.

‘I think the processes happening in international telecommunications are good signs for countries like Canada,’ says Clark. ‘The information revolution has been democratizing the airwaves. It will break the stranglehold of American distributors and broadcasters on the world market.

‘I think the best thing the Canadian film and television industry could do is take a deep breath and look at their own resources, their own voice, their own individuality, and begin making films that have a Canadian signature to them. Canada has a million natural history locations. What is needed is the will and the finance to support the Canadian filmmakers.’

At this year’s Wildscreen, chairman Hattingh revealed exciting news about the future of the festival. The u.k.’s Millennium Commission has allocated £41 million ($90 million) to Wildscreen to build a 10-acre environmental center as the new headquarters of the festival. It will incorporate a large-format imax cinema, an electronic zoo and an ‘arkive’ of environmental films. ‘We also hope to be digitally linked by satellite to educational institutions all over the world,’ said Hattingh.