Geneva/Jackson, WY/New York 25 February 2016 – The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) teamed up in organizing an International Elephant Film Festival to raise global awareness of the various challenges facing the African and Asian elephants, as a highlight of UN World Wildlife Day on 3 March. The Festival received more than 250 entries into the film competition, which were reviewed by over 75 preliminary judges over six weeks before the short list was passed on to the final judging panel.
Finalist will be honored at a high level event to mark the global celebration of World Wildlife Day at UN Headquarters in New York on 3 March 2016. The Films will be subsequently showcased extensively throughout the world, through local screening events and broadcasts.
The distinguished panel of international judges who will select winners includes:
- Inger Anderson, Director General of International Union for Conservation of Nature
- Ian Craig, Director of Conservation, Northern Rangelands Trust, Kenya
- Bingbing Li, Actress, Singer and Conservationist, China
- Edna Molewa, Minister of Environmental Affairs, Republic of South Africa
- Catherine Novelli, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, United States
- John E. Scanlon, Secretary General of CITES
African Voices Finalists
– All the Presidents Elephants, Triosphere for NHU Africa
– Elephants Without Borders, Afriscreen Films, BBC
– NATURE: Soul of the Elephant, Wildlife Films and THIRTEEN Productions LLC in co-production with Terra Mater Factual Studios
– Paseka The Easter Elephant, Afriscreen Films
– White Gold, African Environmental Film Foundation in association with Pace Productions