Wildscreen Festival

Wildscreen Festival 2022 is proud to introduce global hubs. The hubs will aim to encourage all wildlife film, photography, conservationists and scientists to share the experience of the event.

Wildscreen Festival Headline Festival Sponsor, BBC Studios Natural History Unit, is supporting the Nairobi hub

Our Nairobi hub will have a full day of content and will take place in person at the beautiful Emara Ole Sereni hotel located near the Nairobi National Park. The event will offer a mixture of streamed panel session recordings from Wildscreen Festival 2022, in-person networking opportunities and an in-country Film Premiere of ‘Lion: The Rise and Fall of the March Pride’, which will be introduced in-person by renowned Wildlife Conservationist, Dr. Paula Kahumbu

The recorded panel sessions that will be shown are:

• Working with Local Talent: How local communities saved the day

When Covid lockdown hit one country after another, global production of wildlife filmmaking ground to a halt. Local talent proved to be one of the real success stories of the pandemic. The panel will also discuss ways in which this momentum can be maintained in the future.

• Communicating Science in a post truth era

our next session focuses on a discussion looking at if human beings acted on scientific information, we would likely not need a 27th COP (UN Climate Change Conference), or a 15th Biodiversity Conference. And yet these events are becoming ever more desperate as the climate continues to change, and biodiversity continues to collapse. What are we as scientists and communicators doing wrong (or right)?

Break for lunch (food not included)

• Endangered Industry – A Call to Action

It’s time to act on Natural History’s big diversity problem. The urgent need for better, deeper and more sustainable inclusion and representation in our sector is clear. That’s why this year at Wildscreen we’re not convening a panel to talk about the problem. Instead we’re calling up the most exciting agents of change and innovation in our industry to lead the charge.

• In Conversation with Tom McDonald

An in-depth conversation with Tom McDonald, EVP of Global Factual for National Geographic Content, guided by internationally renowned broadcaster Liz Bonin. Tom will share his thoughts on the future of natural world storytelling genre spanning a myriad of topics including storytelling techniques, talent on and off screen and the planetary crisis. He will also reveal Nat Geo’s commissioning secrets for their future slate.

In-country Film Premiere

The day will culminate with a screening of ‘Lion: The Rise and Fall of the March Pride’, which will be introduced in-person by renowned Wildlife Conservationist, Dr. Paula Kahumbu

Documented in television documentaries for over 40 years by the BBC and other broadcasters around the world, the Marsh Pride is the most filmed pride of lions on Earth.

Naturalists, guides, vets and conservationists in Kenya and back in the UK offer a unique perspective on the life of these lions. And the Maasai who live and graze their cattle next door to the pride speak about the struggles of living close to these dangerous predators. The Maasai themselves have been forced to give up their nomadic way of life and settle into a sedentary existence. So despite the long relationship of respect and knowledge between Maasai and lion, will it be possible to exist alongside these wild animals in the modern world?