EDGE OF NATURE: SHORT FILM FUND

Launching September 2023, EDGE of Nature: Short Film Fund will support and nurture emerging natural world storytellers to create fresh, out-of-the-box storytelling approaches to engage GenZ audiences and spotlight EDGE species and habitats. Delivered in partnership with Wildscreen, this new short film fund will catalyse new and creative projects by emerging filmmakers globally, bringing new perspectives and fresh approaches to the natural history filmmaking genre.

The fund will provide grants of up to £15,000 to 6 emerging filmmakers or teams, to produce new, innovative, boundary pushing short films that resonate with GenZ audiences and cast a light on Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species and zones. The fund also aims to elevate emerging storytellers from backgrounds currently underrepresented within natural world storytelling, and platform original storytelling from filmmakers and communities that are deeply connected to the natural world and EDGE zones.

The final films will be showcased as part of a special screening event at the next Wildscreen Festival 2024, further helping to grow their industry networks and advance the filmmakers careers.

Dr Alex Bowmer, Director of Natural History at On the Edge said: ‘This is an exciting opportunity to support emerging filmmakers in Natural History, those who want to tell new stories and change how nature is portrayed on our screens. Not only that, but for the first time, we are casting the spotlight on Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species and spaces, those who receive little to no attention. Think of them as nature’s underdogs, and this fund as the opportunity to tell their stories.

By partnering with Wildscreen, we will be able to reconnect audiences with nature through authentic and entertaining storytelling. Not only will the species and spaces captured be new to most, but also the means by which they are presented’.