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We reached out to our Jackson Wild Media Awards filmmakers to ask them five questions about the experience of making their films.
What inspired this story? Producer and Director Lindsey Parietti: I was looking for a story for my University of the West of England wildlife filmmaking master’s program that would draw attention to an ongoing environmental issue in need of an urgent solution. I heard about the “blood chimps” offhand and was intrigued. As I started researching, the deeper I dug the more unexpected layers I uncovered. It was both fascinating and shocking and I knew I wanted to tell this story. Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film/program? LP: I had a very short filming window (only 2.5 days on location) and conditions in Liberia were very hot and humid so the cameras played up. We were filming the chimpanzees on the islands from a small boat so that was challenging as well. Something always goes awry on location but I enjoy the creative challenge of making it all work. 
Photo courtesy of Blood Island
How do you approach storytelling? LP: As a journalist I naturally want to examine things that fascinate me or grab my attention and that feel relevant, current and exciting. I try to use whatever platform I have to highlight stories and causes that aren’t being covered but deserve to be told. It’s a process of discovery and I try to approach it without foregone conclusions of what I might find. Once I’m crafting the story I like to keep it clear and authentic and try to be true to the narrative and characters. The goal is to capture their essence without overworking the final product. What impact do you hope this film/program will have? LP: I hope the film prompts us to consider our relationship with animals and the natural world. For a long time, we’ve taken power over other living things at our disposal and treated them as if they were disposable commodities. There are a lot of people working to change this and I’d like to play a part in telling their stories. I set out to make Blood Island as a campaign film that would draw attention to the chimps’ plight. However during the edit, the New York Blood Center reached a settlement to provide some money for the care of their former research chimpanzees. While this resolved some of the immediate problem, there are still issues regarding the future of these chimps including that they’ve reproduced on the islands, creating more chimps that will live for 50-60 years and need to be cared for. Practically I hope the film gives people a window into the issue and if they feel compelled, they can investigate further or donate toward the chimps’ care. You can find more information or get in touch with me on the film’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BloodIslandfilm/
What next? LP: I’ve recently wrapped a related tv series and am working on new ideas. Questions for Specific Categories: Impact: How can audience members take action to help the cause or issue featured in this film? LP: There are two organizations they can support: The Humane Society is currently looking after the retired lab chimps and Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue and Protection is rescuing orphaned chimps and trying to protect the critically endangered Western Chimpanzee in Liberia. If you feel compelled by the film and want more information or to get in touch I would love to hear from you on the film Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BloodIslandfilm/ 
Photo courtesy of Blood Island
Student and Emerging Science Filmmaker: What inspired you to tell this particular story? What did you learn during the making of this film? Any surprises? LP: I was looking for a story for my wildlife filmmaking master’s programme that would draw attention to an ongoing environmental issue in need of an urgent solution. I heard about the “blood chimps” offhand and was intrigued. As I started researching, the deeper I dug the more unexpected layers I uncovered. It was both fascinating and shocking and I immediately knew I wanted to tell this story. Any project I take on feels like one big learning process, which is why I love journalism and filmmaking. I learned so much about the chimpanzees and got to meet the amazing people involved in their cause. The University of the West of England masters programme was also a great opportunity to develop craft skills since we got to do everything ourselves from development to filming to post-production, including editing, color grading and building the soundscape. I had previously worked as a video journalist, but the timescale and everything that went into making something more cinematic was so different that I learned a lot and enjoyed the new challenge.
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We reached out to our Jackson Wild Media Awards filmmakers to ask them five questions about the experience of making their films.
What inspired this story? Director/Producer Daphne Wong: The Chinese White Dolphin (Sousa chinensis) has been living in the waters of Hong Kong for hundreds of years. The dolphin, which is in fact pink in appearance, is nicknamed ‘Panda of the Sea’, due to its rarity and friendliness. Despite being chosen as the handover mascot in 1997 when Britain returned the region to China, the Chinese White Dolphin’s fate is not auspicious at all. Their numbers have plunged 80% since 2003, leaving only 32 of their kind in Hong Kong's waters. They are facing multiple threats, including habitat loss due to coastal development, water pollution, and danger of collision with vessels. This film is about their plight and hopes to raise awareness for the endangered cetacean. Were there any surprising or meaningful moments/experiences you want to share? DW: With fewer and fewer dolphins and harsher living conditions in Hong Kong, stable encounters with dolphins are hard to come by. The most memorable experience I had whilst filming was when 15 dolphins surrounded the research vessel, circling the boat and breaching next to us. We had half an hour with this superpod before we had to head back to port before the sun sets.
Any fun facts about the film/program, the subject matter or the production crew that might surprise the audience? DW: Despite its name, the Chinese White Dolphin is often referred to as the pink dolphin due to their pink coloration in appearance. Baby calves are dark grey in colour, which would eventually fade into light grey and into spots. These spots fade as they approach adulthood, and they become fully white (or rather, pink). Their pinkness is prominent due to a network of blood vessels near the skin’s surface, which was thought to have been developed for temperature regulation. How can audience members take action to help the cause or issue featured in this film? DW: The Chinese White Dolphins in Hong Kong have now reached a critical juncture. If they are not given enough room to breathe and regenerate in the near future, the city’s mascot would eventually fade away and become part of history. Audience members can help by supporting the 'Dolphin30: Saving the Handover Mascot' campaign. The Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society is petitioning for a large and connected marine park as a shelter for the remaining dolphins, and the re-route of high-speed ferries to better protect and to relieve the stress on the dolphins. 
Photo courtesy of Breathing Room
We reached out to our Jackson Wild Media Awards filmmakers to ask them five questions about the experience of making their films.
What inspired this story? Producer Walter Köhler: The Vaquita is a very iconic species. If we cannot save this species, what hope is there for others. It would be really easy to protect if just politics would be there to fight wildlife crime. Our agenda was to warn the world that if we let two highly organized crime syndicates - the Chinese Mafia and the Mexican drug cartels - work together without being attacked by law enforcement we will lose one species after the other in the Sea of Cortez and everywhere around the world. Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film/program. WK: We had to overcome a lot of security challenges. We were attacked, got death threats, fought against corruption. There was more than one dangerous situation. When we left the shores of the Sea of Cortez we knew there was no turning back. Mexico is the most dangerous country in the world for journalists - and filmmakers. 
Photo courtesy of Sea of Shadows
What did you learn from your experience making this film/program? WK: Never give up even when the situation feels hopeless. As filmmakers we can make a difference and change the world for good. How do you approach storytelling? WK: We wanted to construct a film which could be also viewed as a thriller movie à la "Sicario" - with the exception that every action, every bullet fired was real. We tried to make it as "entertaining" as possible. The Vaquita needs more friends that just our usual community of nature lovers. What impact do you hope this film/program will have? WK: We work hard to force the Mexican government to start strict law enforcement measures and especially go for the Mexican-Chinese traffickers. We gave all our intelligence to Mexico and still they go unharmed to this day. In strong contrast to the Chinese government who achieved a lot of arrests of Totoaba traffickers. We still hope that everything we do at the moment works out until the next Totoaba season starts in December. It is the last chance for the Vaquita. The last ten or so specimens will not survive another poaching season.
Were there any surprising or meaningful moments/experiences you want to share? WK: It was quite a experience to film the first moving images of a species and to know that it is just a few individuals away from extinction. They are so hard to see and so hard to find them and still we manage it to kill them just for greed! Any fun facts about the film/program, the subject matter or the production crew that might surprise the audience? WK: No, no fun moments! More the opposite! Anything else you would like people to know? WK: The Vaquita would be the first animal with the highest protection from CITES which could now go forever. We must do anything to stop this happening! What next? WK: We will turn our attention to the Amazon. The situation gets totally out of hand. We must send our cameras down there. The lung of the world needs our combined actions. 
Photo courtesy of Sea of Shadows
How can audience members take action to help the cause or issue featured in this film? WK: Get on to social media. Force the Mexican government to take action. Did the film team use any unusual techniques or unique imaging technology? WK: Without drones the film would not have been possible at all. What were some of the specific editing challenges you had to address? WK: It was hard and took us quite a while to combine our several narrative threads and interweave them which each other without disturbing the overall picture. Thanks to our wonderful editing team, we achieved what we longed for from the very beginning. What were the biggest influences on how you approached writing this project? WK: Reality!
We reached out to our Jackson Wild Media Awards filmmakers to ask them five questions about the experience of making their films.
What inspired this story? Director Jeff Wilson: We spent 4 months living and working with Adelies in 2009/2010 Antarctic season alongside the United States Antarctic Program for the BBC series Frozen Planet – but we came away from the experience thinking there was more to these amazing little krill buckets than we were able to tell in a sequence led series. Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film/program. JW: All filming in Antarctica is challenging primarily due to the enormous logistics that filming on the continent requires. We were fortunate to co-operate and be supported by the National Science Foundation as well as French and Argentine Antarctic Programs, but nonetheless, extreme weather played a key role in both the failures and successes of this film. 
Photo courtesy of Disneynature Penguins
What did you learn from your experience making this film/program? JW: Nothing can replace long term observation and on the ground expertise in making a good wildlife film - Understanding ones subject matter intimately is key to developing storylines and getting the nuanced behavior which is the core of long form wildlife storytelling. How do you approach storytelling? JW: The best stories in the natural world tend to present themselves to those who take the time to watch, but beyond that I try and narrow the distance between the human experience and the wild animal behavior we observe in the field to remind our audience they are more connected to the natural world than many of them realize. I believe this is a cornerstone to any good conservation movement. What impact do you hope this film/program will have? JW: I have already watched cinemas full of families and children interact with this film through both the amazing cinematography , the storytelling and the music – I really hope that this film will have longevity in inspiring families and especially children to find out more about the Antarctic continent and the plight of penguins worldwide. 
Photo courtesy of Disneynature Penguins
Were there any surprising or meaningful moments/experiences you want to share? JW: Our first season saw the teams camp decimated by winds of 151mph at Cape Crozier in the Ross Sea area of Antarctica, which we thought was a record , until the team filming the following season at Hope Bay on the Peninsula had to endure 157mph which was a wind record for mainland Antarctica! As we watched the penguins nonchalantly disregard these hurricane force katabatics (their aqua dynamic design is perfectly suited for wind forces), both events taught us very severely that humans have no permanent place on Antarctica. Long may that last. Anything else you would like people to know? JW: Cuts to science funding in the US by the government are severely affecting long term studies on penguin ecology and climate change which are vital to our understanding of Adelie penguins and other species inhabiting Antarctica. 
Photo courtesy of Disneynature Penguins
How can audience members take action to help the cause or issue featured in this film? JW: Disneynature supports the Global Penguin Society and audience members can too through this site. Also, you can learn more about the important work going on at our main filming site through the fantastic resources from our partner science team here.
We reached out to our Jackson Wild Media Awards filmmakers to ask them five questions about the experience of making their films.
What inspired this story? Director and Producer Dusty Hulet: When I was a kid, my dad took me with him to volunteer on an Idaho Fish & Game deer study. To my twelve-year-old amazement, it was our job to hide in the bushes, then run and tackle the deer that were being herded into nets by a helicopter. We held them down just long enough for a wildlife researcher to put a radio collar on them, before releasing them back into the wild. As a twelve-year-old, it was the craziest thing I’d witnessed under adult supervision, and it really stuck with me as I made my way into the world of film. A few years ago, I was finally able to go back to Idaho to film a similar deer study. In doing so, I caught wind of Colorado Parks and Wildlife researchers crawling headfirst into occupied bear dens, armed only with handheld tranquilizers on telescoping poles—tranquilizers that took 15 minutes to do anything. I convinced the researchers to let me film them for a just a couple of days, then a couple more. Things snowballed from there. Four years later, what was to be a segment in a short film is the standalone feature, Bears of Durango. Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film/program? DH: I was really close to puking my guts out by the time we got to the first den. The Durango study’s bears didn’t always den in especially convenient locations, and the first one I visited was up several thousand feet of snowy, trailless Rocky Mountain. The researchers, whose regular duties include visiting bear dens in Colorado’s deep winter snow, are what you might call “ultra fit.” It’s one thing to even keep up with them, it’s another thing to haul all the camera gear fast enough to get ahead of them, then not pass out while you try to control your breathing long enough to hold a stable shot. 
Photo courtesy of Bears of Durango
What did you learn from your experience making this film/program? DH: The battle is ongoing, but this process has made it very clear to me that every indie film is a miracle. Doesn’t matter how bad it is. It’s really tough to make something at all, let alone something good. How do you approach storytelling? DH: With Bears of Durango, it was important to me that the researchers’ voices carried the story. No narrator, no host, no David Attenborough (though I’m happy to talk with you about my next project, Sir Dave). Without exception, we found the researchers doing this work to be fascinating, vibrant characters. Though you hear my voice a few times in the film, the story is theirs, and you hear it from them, expressed in their own way. Beyond that, humor plays an interesting role in the film. Bears of Durango ventures into heavy issues—climate change, human development, and mounting pressures on wildlife populations.
What impact do you hope this film/program will have?
DH: There’s much to say on this one, but I’ll leave it at this: My four nieces have plenty of Miley Cyrus to look up to. What they need is more Dr. Heather Johnson. They need to see that they can be brilliant scientist leaders, wrestle bears twice their size, and positively impact the world. 
Photo courtesy of Bears of Durango
Were there any surprising or meaningful moments/experiences you want to share? DH: While filming in the back of the first den I visited—two bears between me and the exit—a researcher straddling the two bears explained to me how important it was that I take care not to touch the semi-sedated sow’s nose, as I climbed over her and her yearling. “Bears noses,” I was told, “are extremely sensitive.” The researcher, Twistered her way over the bears to the other side of the den, then led the way through the 14-inch belly-crawl gap in the boulders, and up the six foot tunnel in the snow that the researchers had dug to the den’s entrance. On her way out, her boot slipped off the wall, and popped the sow right in the nose. The sow’s ears, silhouetted against the den’s opening, slowly lifted to an alert position. It was a different kind of “peak experience,” with pure adrenaline coursing as I straddled her and her yearling before being dragged out the tunnel by the researchers. The sow didn’t fully wake up until we were packed up and long gone, but it made for a very memorable first shooting day. 
Photo courtesy of Bears of Durango
What next? DH: We’re not out of the woods yet. There’s much to do with Bears of Durango—some interesting challenges, and some amazing opportunities. We hope that our time at Jackson Wild will us connect with those who can help us take the project to the next level. Those interested in getting involved or following along with our journey are invited to visit bearsofdurango.com.
We reached out to our Jackson Wild Media Awards filmmakers to ask them five questions about the experience of making their films.
What inspired this story? Director Ian McAllister: This story was inspired by my 30 years of conservation work in the Great Bear Rainforest. I was fortunate to be first introduced to the Great Bear Rainforest about 30 years ago, when what I thought was going to be a one-week exploratory trip turned into a 30-year journey. Making a giant screen film about this area has been on my mind for a long time. I wanted to bring awareness to this globally rare wilderness so that others can see what I see. It is the story of a threatened unique rainforest next to one of the planet's most prolific ocean environments that is also facing pressure from industrial development. Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film. IM: This is a natural history film of some of the planet's undocumented elusive wildlife. In order to bring that to the giant screen, the crew spent more than 400 days in the field filming spirit bears, wolves and countless other species, which took a tremendous amount of time to properly capture. Filming in an extremely remote area with a complicated coastline without any roads or easy access, with the addition of harsh wind and rain, brings its own challenges. 
Photo courtesy of Great Bear Rainforest
What impact do you hope this film will have? IM: I hope people leave the theatre with a sense of real hope, knowing that places so valuable ecologically and culturally still exist and still can thrive, and seeing that ecological protection can be something exciting and beautiful, rather than dark and difficult. Maybe some will also be inspired to engage with the rainforest in their own way, or to get involved in environmental work, which doesn’t have to mean becoming a scientist. There are countless skills that can play a role in helping to protect places like the Great Bear Rainforest—from science to the arts to logistics…and even entertainment. Any fun facts about the film, the subject matter or the production crew that might surprise the audience? IM: A fun fact about this film is that the Spirit Bear, which is one of the key characters of the film and the area, is rarer than the panda bear. Many people confuse it with a polar bear, but it is actually a subspecies of the North American black bear that has white fur due to a rare genetic trait. Spirit bears are only found in the Great Bear Rainforest. No one knows exactly how many spirit bears there are, but estimates range from 50 to 100. They truly are the rarest bears on earth! 
Photo courtesy of Great Bear Rainforest
What do you feel is most important to remember when telling stories to younger audiences? IM: I love the fact that in the Great Bear Rainforest, both the film and the actual place, indigenous youth are the central voice of the region. We wanted to spotlight real people, especially young people, and real things that are happening in their communities. This results in youth talking to youth, and I believe that is the most important element in telling stories to younger audiences. 
Photo courtesy of Great Bear Rainforest
Guest written by Robin McGahey, edited by Melina Formisano, Adam May, and Chris Campkin The Jackson Wild Summit is over, and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a little bit nostalgic. From the screenings and the panels, to networking on the dance floor, to the sunset on the Tetons, the Jackson Wild Summit is unlike any other. The conversations were flowing, the content was progressive, and the word “impact” now has a brand of its own. One particular highlight was the fun and interactive “Drop in the Ocean”. The social VR experience is co-produced by NGO Conservation International and Vision3, a London based production company, and in association with Vulcan Productions.  “Drop in the Ocean” immerses you deep into the beauty of the ocean – but also directly into the plastic pollution crisis plaguing the world’s oceans. Conservation International and partners aim to raise awareness and trigger action to address the impacts of plastic pollution affecting everything from the smallest plankton to the largest mammals. The approximately 10-minute experience starts the moment you set foot in the VR area. Once the goggles are on, an AI-based markerless tracking system attaches a “skeleton” to your shape. This is what’s happening when the ever-so-lovely VR assistant tells you to please keep your arms out to a “T” and dance around a bit. I promise, it’s not just for our entertainment; it’s so the skeleton can properly attach on to your arms, legs and torso, enabling it to move with you as you go through the experience so that you can see yourself and your co-participants depicted as a collection of marine snow.
As the narration begins, the soothing voices of explorers and environmental advocates, Phillipe and Ashlan Cousteau transport you through the ocean, on top of a giant Jellyfish. You start at the at the depths where you can reach out, touch, and almost hold some of the tiniest lifeforms in our ocean, then slowly rise up to the surface. Along the way, you’ll meet many colorful characters, some curious mammals, and eventually (spoiler alert!) get eaten by a whale shark. Dr. Sylvia Earle said it best after her experience: “[Drop in the Ocean] captures the essence of the ocean, the real ocean. It’s not just rocks and water – it’s alive.” Our ocean is living, breathing, and so incredibly colorful, even at the deepest parts. It’s also been polluted down to the most microscopic levels. “Drop in the Ocean” didn’t just enable the audience to see the state of our oceans, it made them feel it. When it comes to impact, that makes all the difference.  Jonathan Bailey, Dr. Sylvia Earle, and Lisa Samford, holding hands on top of the Jellyfish What exactly are we seeing though? Here, Chris Campkin and Adam May, two of the creators from Vision3, and Melina Formisano, VP of Brand Marketing from Conservation International, have answered a couple of questions you might have had after the experience. What are we supposed to be witnessing? AM: Evidence of destructive human impact at the base of the food web and leaving with hope to create a better world. CC: We are shrinking you down to about the size of a thumb, or roughly the size of the plankton you are surrounded by, to put the viewer face to face with the impact of plastic pollution in all parts of the ocean. It’s supposed to be educational, visually stimulating, and interactive. We highly recommend trying to touch everything you can. What are we actually seeing? CC: It’s a combination of CGI and original content from the archives of Peter Parks’s lifelong work, a man who dedicated his life to studying and capturing images of plankton.  Why did you want to start from the depths of the ocean? AM: The connection point between microplastics and human impact. It is also where we get our oxygen. CC: There’s also something mystical about starting from the bottom. It’s all black, so the plankton really light it up, like stars in the night sky. It makes the starting point relative, and draws the user in. Why the Jellyfish? AM: It’s an elegant and natural elevator. CC: Also, why not? Who wouldn’t want to ride a Jellyfish through the ocean? It’s fun for people of all ages Out of all of the media platforms you can use, why did you choose to go with VR? MF: The idea for Conservation International to create virtual reality (VR) films came from the desire to bring more people closer to nature and the work of conservation. VR allows more people to experience the beauty and importance of these places and ecosystems without the time or cost of travel. The immersive experience of VR creates higher levels of empathy that can change minds and change behavior. Not to mention that because the VR technology is still new and evolving, we are able to reach new audiences that may be initially interested only because of the cool technology but who leave the VR experience with a better understanding of our work and the importance of conservation. Through VR, we believe more people will come to understand how local communities rely on nature and they will be moved to help protect nature for the benefit of us all.  The team (left to right): Dylan Ross, Adam May, Chris Campkin, and Melina Formisano “Drop in the Ocean” was one of the many amazing VR simulations shown during the week at the Jackson Wild Summit. In addition, there was “My Africa”, produced by CI and Passion Planet, in association with Vision3; “Everest VR: the Movie Experience” by Jonathan Griffith Productions, Legend 3D, and Vulcan; “Greenland Melting” by Frontline, Emblematic Group, NOVA, Rex Studio, and Realtra,; “Polar Obsession” by Black Dot Films VR for Nat Geo; and the Sanctuary 360 series, by Kate Thompson, Nick Zachar, and Shannon Shikles. All of the above did such an amazing job of capturing the livelihood of this planet, and the monumental role that VR can have in impact media.
Guest written by Robin McGahey, an Ocean Conservationist and enthusiastic volunteer at this year's Jackson Wild Summit. Currently residing in her native San Francisco, she is the Fall Benefit Coordinator for the International Ocean Film Festival, as well as an active member in Surfrider's Rise Above Plastics Campaign. This year, the Conservation Focus at Jackson Wild is Living Oceans. Wow, that immediately makes me feel warm on the inside. Crashing waves, breaching whales, little baby turtles making their way to the water, and flourishing coral reefs are all springing to mind. What a truly beautiful idea to have been raised on.  Photo Credit: The Ocean Agency Unfortunately, today the image has changed. Whenever I hear “ocean”, more often than not my brain goes to floating plastic debris, washed up whales, bleached coral, and shark fin soup - just to name a few. Photos: Adobe Stock Photo It’s important to remember though, that this is the LIVING Oceans Summit we are going to, so although the basis is about what we have lost, the conversations are about what we still have to fight for. Like my hero, Dr. Sylvia Earle, said in her 2009 Ted Talk, “50% of the corals are gone, but 50% still remain.” The questions now are: Where do we stand? What needs to be done? What can we do? and most importantly, What is standing in our way? A few weeks ago, Australia came out with their 2019 Outlook Report on the status of the Great Barrier Reef. They officially downgraded it from “poor” to “very poor”, and unsurprisingly named climate change as the biggest threat to this natural wonder.  Photo Credit: The Ocean Agency They also said though, that the protective and management services that they have been implementing as a result of the 2050 Reef Plan and Blueprint for Resilience have been yielding positive results. Humpback Whales are coming back in larger pods, Southern Green Sea Turtles are swimming better, and some species of coral have shown signs of healing.
Like this study, the conditions of the oceans across the board are very poor. Global fish stocks have been depleted by 90%, plastic is now part of the chemical composition of seawater, 880k lbs of oil is released into the ocean every year, and MPAs only consist of 4.8% of the 70% of the globe that is ocean. Our oceans, and all of the wondrous life that lives within them, have been hit worse than we could have ever imagined, all due to a lack of knowledge and care on our part. However, as there is still life, there is still hope, and most importantly, work to be done.
 Adobe Stock Photo
 Adobe Stock Photo
 Photo credit: Robin McGahey All in all, the Ocean, that is the reusable glass made out of recycled water bottles, was half emptied by overfishing, poaching, pollution, and discarded plastic, to name a few. In fact, it was probably more emptied by more than that. But, the glass is still half (well, a little less than) full of life, wonder, mystery, and teeming with possibility, just as we remember it from when we were little. The people and organizations that I just mentioned are just a few dedicating their lives to filling that glass back up. Many of whom, along with so many others, will be in attendance at Jackson Wild’s Living Oceans Summit, representing the outstanding work that they have done, and discussing what there is still left to do. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say.
We reached out to our festival filmmakers to ask them five questions about the experience of making their films.
Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film/program? Writer and Director Annamaria Talas: The biggest challenge was to create a narrative that waves in the most important and surprising things about the weird and wonderful kingdom of fungi. I believe that storytelling can be one of the most effective tool to understand the world around us, so I chose the story of evolution on land from the perspective of fungi. However, the second challenge was the sheer lack of publicly available information about their evolution and natural history. Despite having a background in biology, writing the script involved learning the ‘tribal’ languages of environmental physiology, metabolomics, paleobotany, medical mycology and deciphering the most recent findings for a television audience. When I started my research, I didn’t anticipate that these fields were about to change dramatically - even within a year - that I’ll have to rewrite the script again and again to provide the most comprehensive story of how fungi shaped our world. What impact do you hope this film/program will have? AT: From the beginning my aim was to bring attention to this little known, yet so powerful world. In our fast changing world fungi is bound to have an important role in biodiversity, agriculture, CO2 sequestration, in recycling waste and in medicine. Fungi can be our biggest allies in solving many of our problems as well as formidable enemies. Scientists in our film predicted the rise of new human fungal pathogens and just couple of years later we witnessed the emergence of C.auris as a global health threat. 
Photo by Steve Axford
Any fun facts about the film/program, the subject matter or the production crew that might surprise the audience? AT: 1. The Third Mode of Life: Fungi represent “a third mode of life” alongside single celled and multicellular organisms. They are networks. Like a brain, these networks are adaptive.They respond to the environment allowing fungi to deploy nutrients where they are most needed, explore resources, combat enemies or make urgent repairs. 2. Sleeping Beauties: Spores embedded 2.5 kms under the Pacific seabed were recovered and grew to a 1 cm tall mushroom, closely related to a species called Schizophyllum commune. 
Photo by Steve Axford
3. Sexual identities: Fungi have up to 28,000 sexual identities to choose from but they can also make babies without having sex - asexually. That’s where things get tricky for mycologists trying to catalogue fungi. Fungi, depending on their choice of reproduction – sexual or asexual – appear as wildly different. In 1994, Kathie Hodge and her students from Cornell University went mushroom hunting. Among the findings was a mysterious fungus picked from a beetle grub. It was identified as C. subsessilis an extremely rare species from the insect-eating group, Cordyceps, that reproduces sexually. The surprise came, when Kathie germinated the spores and it developed into a well know – asexual - mold, that single-handedly made organ transplants possible by producing an immunosuppressant, cyclosporine. 4. Harvesting energy: all fungi have melanin, the dark pigment we have in our skin. Researchers thought melanin might be protecting the fungi against gamma radiation much as it protects us from UV rays. But according Professor Arturo Casadevall, discovered that their melanin is capable of harvesting the energy of gamma rays. In his lab, radiated fungi grew faster but only if they contained melanin. We’d long thought only plants could harvest energy from radiation. Not so, it seems fungi can do it too. What next? AT: My next documentary is investigating through the lens of Big Data how success emerge – The Science of Success. I like to think of this film as a natural history of society, where we are looking for patterns to reveal the nature of success. Big data acts as a telescope through which previously unknown social processes can be seen for the first time. 
Photo by Steve Axford
We reached out to our festival filmmakers to ask them five questions about the experience of making their films.
What inspired this story?
Director Jeffery Waldron: Years ago, my co-director Shannon Service (and her writing partner) published a story on NPR about slavery in the Thai fishing industry, detailing the unbelievable true story of an escaped captive fisherman. Moved by the piece, producer Greg Kwedar reached out to Shannon and I about making a documentary. Over the next six years and many trips to the region, we began to weave the elements that would become Ghost Fleet; challenging ourselves to balance the unfolding journey of our hero, Patima, with strong visceral imagery echoing the experiences of the enslaved men. Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film/program? JW: There are many challenges to shooting an international documentary like Ghost Fleet. With multiple trips over the years — last minute crew and equipment availability, improvised travel plans, expedited visas, and the inherent dangers of working in sensitive areas and subject matters were among the trickiest waters to navigate. The language barrier was a major hurdle with six languages appearing in the film. There were as many logistical and creative challenges in the edit room as behind the camera; again with so much translation required, so many capture formats (with more than seven different camera systems), but especially in discovering and establishing the subjective language of the film — fitting those many hard-won puzzle pieces together. 
Photo courtesy of Ghost Fleet
How do you approach storytelling?
JW: Our aim was to tell this story with visual elements as gripping and memorable as a narrative film — knowing that there’s a big difference between simply educating an audience about a topic and making them feel and empathize in a deeper, sense-driven way. Balancing Shannon’s amazing journalistic instincts, and my experience as a narrative cinematographer and photography-forward documentary director — we were able to combine our strengths. What impact do you hope this film/program will have? JW: Our dream is that this film moves people; emotionally, in empathy with the plight of the thousands of still enslaved or marooned men; inspired by the continuing works of our hero Patima; and in action, to look more critically at the fish they buy, to share the film and its message with everyone they know, and to donate to Patima’s efforts at wesaveoursons.org. 
Photo courtesy of Ghost Fleet
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Contact UsJackson Wild
240 S. Glenwood, Suite 112 PO Box 3940 Jackson, WY 83001 307-200-3286 info@jacksonwild.org |