'Guyana's Natural Heritage' cops top prize
A SERIES of televised Public Service Announcements (PSAs) entitled `Guyana's Natural Heritage' has carted off one of the coveted top prizes in the prestigious Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, in Wyoming, U.S.A. The series was produced by the Washington-based environmental organisation, Conservation International (CI) [please note: link provided by LOSP web site] to launch a natural heritage campaign here in June last year. It was one of 15 winning entries from a field of 560. Other winners include the internationally acclaimed National Geographic, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Discovery Communications, ABC-Kane/Disney, Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), ABC Australia, as well as Chilean and Swedish film-makers. A biennial event, this year's festival attracted some 850 participants, including the most talented producers, directors, cinematographers, composers and other professionals in international wildlife film-making. CI Senior Director of International Communications, Mr Haroldo Castro, in a victory speech last Saturday night, highlighted the relevance of this international recognition towards the campaign for the protection of Guyana's natural heritage. Castro, who is also Executive Producer of the award-winning series, told the gathering at the award ceremony: "The most important award that we, conservationists, are looking for is ... the declaration of the establishment of a Protected Areas System (PAS) in Guyana, the only country in the Americas without such a system". The panel of judges this year comprised Mr Kohei Ando, a Japanese film-maker; Ms Denise Baddour, a former Discovery Communications vice-president; Mr Michael Hill, editor of Washington Post's TV Week; Mr Thomas Mangelson, a nature photographer; and Mr Terrence Malik, Hollywood film director of `The Thin Red Line' fame. Malik said after the ceremony: "The final jury selected this series of spots on Guyana because it opens our eyes to the country's brave struggle to preserve its natural treasures". This year's festival saw a new alliance in the formation of a group entitled `Film-makers for Conservation'. The initiative is said to have already generated interest among more than 100 film-makers who are in the process of creating a network for discussing and developing joint projects. (Linda Rutherford)
|