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Resourceful filmmaking at Wildscreen

The Wildscreen Festival, currently taking place at Watershed in Bristol, takes place every other year showcasing some of the best films in the world about nature and the environment.

Today I chaired a panel at the festival which aimed to explore how, at a time when finances are tight filmmakers can find the resources to make the sorts of campaigning films that audiences want to see.

On the panel were Sally-Ann Wilson of Worldview (an initiative within the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, which supports the development of stories made in or about the developing world); Terry Stevens, on-line Coordinator of Dogwoof, distributor of major campaigning titles such as The Age of Stupid and The End of the Line (both of which have generated significantly more column inches than many Hollywood studio releases); and finally two inspiring filmmakers, Rita Banerji (The Wild Meat Trail) and Patrick Rouxel (Green) whose films are screening at Wildscreen.

Both Rita and Patrick illustrated how their films had grown out of a mixture of passion, flexibility and entrepreneurship. Neither had embarked on their journey with their ideas fully funded yet both have delivered great stories aimed at changing human behaviour in a way that is sympathetic, empathetic and non-hectoring.

Three common themes emerged from the session:

  • Passion and a campaigning outlook are essential - not only to secure the stories but also to address the equally difficult task of getting them to audiences.
  • Being flexible and adapting to changing circumstances, responding to opportunity and taking risks were all qualities that the filmmakers displayed - they had expended significant energy in searching for their stories regardless of whether they had a broadcast deal or not, and the results were clear in the authenticity of the films they had finally produced. 
  • Finally. partnerships had been vital to the realisation of each of the projects - whether this was in conjunction with a potential distributor such as Dogwoof, a development body such as Worldview, or with the NGOs that had helped the filmmakers. Interdependency is as much a feature of filmmaking as it is of the natural world.

You can see a trailer for Patrick's film here and visit Rita's website at www.dustyfootindia.com.

 

 

Resourceful filmmaking at Wildscreen