Simone is the last Greater Bamboo Lemur in Ranomafana, a protected rainforest in south-east Madagascar. After a happy start in life, surrounded by family, Simone finds herself alone, as members of her family disappear one by one. Three years on, and she’s still alone - a social animal, a primate, just like us; how has this isolation affected her mental state? Through primatologist Dr. Patricia Wright and researcher, Alba Schielen, we witness Simone’s desperate bid for companionship, as she takes a bold step for survival. At last Simone is happy again, but is all as harmonious as it seems?

https://www.instagram.com/ct_wildlife/

Director Statement

I had a chance encounter with the lemur featured in my film whilst trekking in the rainforest during my honeymoon in Madagascar in 2022. Upon hearing that this lemur was the last of her species in the area, I was eager to find out more about her and tell her story, which serves as a poignant reminder of how the global biodiversity crisis is affecting animals on a personal level.

——

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Sitka’s Hidden Wonders, 43min., USA
Directed by Ben Hamilton
Sitka’s Hidden Wonders is a 40-minute theatrical nature film that blends sweeping cinematography with a deeply personal story of return. Told by award–winning wildlife filmmaker Ben Hamilton, the film explores what it means to truly see a place—through the hidden layers of one of Alaska’s wildest coastal ecosystems.

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-sitkas-hidden

https://instagram.com/sitkawonders

What motivated you to make this film?

Every summer, over 600,000 people visit Sitka, but most just walk around town and never see the incredible natural wonders all around us. I wanted to create a film that connects them to this place—beyond the shops and the docks—into the wild heart of Sitka. After years of filming here for networks like BBC and National Geographic, this was my chance to make something for Sitka itself.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

The film took two years of full-time work, plus a year of planning and permits before that. And some shots were collected over the last decade—moments I'd been saving for the right project.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Local. Connected.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

The biggest obstacle was really time.  The focus and intensity it took to deliver a film like this while still being there for my small kids and wife. It meant weeks away in the field, long nights editing, and constantly trying to balance the work with family life.

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The Line We Crossed, 110min., US

Directed by Liz Smith

A British story of dissent, drawn from the frontlines of climate resistance. Through the experiences of those who stood in defiance, it traces the quiet unraveling of our protest rights. The film challenges audiences to question what makes dissent effective and where the line of acceptability is.

http://www.thelinewecrossed.com/

https://www.instagram.com/p75investigates/

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Med Selkies, 11min., UK
Directed by Kelly Ann Buckley
Med Selkies is a poetic film exploring a near-future climate crisis where land is ravaged, and a lone human drifts at sea. Succumbing to the depths, the human encounters an ancestral, aquatic force – beings who once diverged from humanity to adapt to life beneath the waves.

https://www.instagram.com/k_a_b_art_n_sound

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?

~ This was an expansion of a project I did for Focal Point Gallery – a wonderful contemporary arts gallery in SouthendonSea, UK. I was lucky enough to be commissioned to create an exhibition for their FPG Sounds programme. My project – Echoes in the Fossils – was a sound-led audiovisual 5 part piece – focused on rising sea levels and lost past & imagined future soundscapes, ranging from Mesolithic to Anthropocene epochs, which touched upon futuristic polymer-human hybrids. Med Selkies was a continuation of that exploration, after Echoes in the Fossils had finished. I am interested in the Aquatic Ape theory and the idea that there may be some human cousin out there in parts of the ocean we don’t know about. Med Selkies evolved from my thinking about that, and what may happen if we are forced to return to the ocean, living with them, because of climate change. This was combined with the thinking about humans carrying micro plastics in their bodies vs the plastic eating microbes scientists are now working with. What if these grow huge, and we become the food? It’s all very mixed up thinking and dreamlike and I suppose this vibe was carried through to the film

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DIPPERS IN THE ALTAI IV; EMERGENCE OF THE CHICKS, 54min., UK
Directed by Andrew Laurie
In the course of his work as a wildlife conservation advisor to the Mongolian government, Andrew Laurie followed up on a childhood fascination with White-throated Dippers on the Teme near Ludlow, by finding out more about their lives in the Altai Mountains. Now resident in Cambridge, Andrew has made four films on Dippers in Mongolia – covering nest-building, incubation, feeding of the chicks in the nest, and this, the most recent one (2023) on the emergence of the chicks and their early lives on the river.

https://www.youtube.com/@andrewlaurie64/featured

Get to know the filmmaker:

Early experience and fascination with the White-throated Dipper in UK as a schoolboy led me to search for its breeding sites in the Mongolian Altai when there on an assignment much later in life – because although sigthings were common, particularly in winter on unfrozen streams, the local ornithologists did not know where it bred.

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TESOCO NUEVO: LAND OF JAGUARS, 37min., Mexico
Directed by Camilla Daldoss, Fernando Costantino Martinez Belmar
In a remote mayan community called Tesoco Nuevo located in the selva of Yucatan – Mexico, people have a special relationship with nature. The forest that this village protect is home of the largest wild cat in America and one of the most endangered: the jaguar. The documentary shows how they all have the important role to preserve it.

https://tesoconuevo.wixsite.com/documentary
https://www.facebook.com/tesoconuevotierradejaguares
https://instagram.com/camilladaldoss_videographer

Get to know filmmaker Camilla Daldoss:
I was filming my first short documentary about Sea Turtle Conservation in Puerto Escondido, when the biologist Fernando Martinez Belmar contacted me to see if I was able to film something in Yucatan about his conservation project with jaguars. I moved to Yucatan pretty excited and ended filming and editing for months and years.

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TARARUA S-K, 22min., New Zealand
Directed by Andy Carruthers
Have you ever wondered what it feels like to push your limits in the wild, facing the ultimate physical challenge? The Tararua SK Traverse is waiting for you.

https://tararuask.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TararuaSK
https://www.instagram.com/tararuask_film/

Get to know the filmmaker:

I want to inspire people to go on an adventure ⛰️

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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PLANET SOIL, 83min., Netherlands, Documentary
Directed by Mark Verkerk
Planet Soil makes the unseen seen. The film inspires and amazes and gives insight into the world beneath our feet. Besides the world above ground populated by plants, insects and birds, but especially by humans, there is a second world: an underground community of roots, larvae, worms, fungi, bacteria, amoebas and arthropods. The existence of this world will not surprise anyone, but the fact that all the life in that microcosm is busily communicating with each other is nothing short of astonishing.

http://www.onderhetmaaiveldfilm.nl/
https://www.facebook.com/onderhetmaaiveldfilm/
https://twitter.com/bodemfilm
https://www.instagram.com/onderhetmaaiveld/

Get to know the filmmaker:

We have been making film about nature for the past 13 years. Films like The New Wilderness and Wild Amsterdam have been internationally successful. Our mission is to inspire people about nature. Making the unseen seen. Not in a critical way and not judging but showing the beauty and importance of our relation with nature. We people are nature. The films are a call to action but people have to discover themselves how they can make a difference and change behavior.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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THE BOUNDARY WATERS TRAVERSE, 12min., USA, Documentary
Directed Erik Nelson
The Running for the Boundary Waters project is designed to highlight the issue of potential sulfide-ore copper mining proposals in the watershed of, and directly adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to the running community. Trail runners and environmental advocate Alex Falconer ran the Border Route and Kekekabic trail, creating the boundary waters traverse, a 110 mile run, in 38 hrs 15 mins and 3 seconds. This shows his journey.

https://www.savetheboundarywaters.org/
https://www.instagram.com/savethebwca/

Get to know the filmmaker:
I’ve always been a big fan of the Boundary Waters, having paddled and camped there many times over the years. When the opportunity came to put our filmmaking skills to use and help spread the word of Alex’s run and the fight to protect such a special place, we had to do it.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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THE TEMPTATION OF TREES, 43min., USA, Documentary
Directed by Andrea Sparrow
New Studies reveal that growing our existing forested lands to capture carbon, preserve biodiversity and protect water, animals and people is one of the best tools we have for fighting climate change and rebuilding a thriving planet. Experts with a deep understanding of forests, carbon and timber share the science and methods we can use to take a step toward a greener, healthier future.

https://temptationoftrees.com/

From Andrea Sparrow:

I’ve been making art and photography and writing about climate change and human impact on the planet for a long time. When my colleague, Ben Elkins, asked me to make a film with him about a small forest in Oregon, called the Elliot State Forest, I started reading the science and talking with scientists and conservationists about the forests, wood products and climate change. The issues were huge! The film quickly morphed from being about this tiny forest to talking about these big, valuable forests in our country that are being exploited in unsustainable ways.

Interview conducted by Matthew Toffolo

Playing on the Film Festival Streaming service later this month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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BUZZ Pollen Nation, 9min., USA, Documentary
Directed by Mike Machian
Bombus occidentalis, the Western Bumblebee, was one of the most common species found in the western US. Since the late 90’s, this species has experienced steep decline. Kellie Hayden volunteers her time to help track and conserve native bumblebee species.

From Mike Machian:

I had known Kellie for a few years and she had been sharing her journey to citizen scientist on social media. Like most of my documentaries i thought “this is neat, other people should know about this.”

Playing on the Film Festival Streaming service later this month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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MESSAGES FROM THE MARSH – PARTS 1-3, 3min., USA, Experimental
Directed by Amy Kaczur
Messages from the Marsh, 2021 to current, is an immersive experience with multiple video projections, sound art, and mapping. The project focuses on marsh locations on the east coast, and the work is developed via site-specific research, video documentation, and in-person engagement. Videos depict marsh spaces inhabited, spaces transformed, and spaces potentially lost.

https://www.instagram.com/amykaczur

Director Statement

I’m an artist and a citizen scientist, doing my part in bringing awareness about coastal risk, and action in marsh preservation and restoration. I've started working in Massachusetts marsh areas that are projected to be under water by 2050 through combinations of sea level rise, tides, and storm surge. I video above and within the marsh water bodies, and create topographical maps of the marshes and threatened areas. I'll continue researching the impact of the coastal marsh loss on the ecosystem and probable species extinction, and efforts in preservation, restoration and management.

Playing on the Film Festival Streaming service later this month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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“Underwater Hazards” is the winning screenplay from the Environmental Film Festival. Interview with writer Pamela Perry Goulardt, followed by the best scene reading of the screenplay performed by professional actors.

Watch the screenplay reading here: https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/underwater-hazards

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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A WINDOW THAT BREATHES THE CITY was the winner of BEST SOUND & MUSIC at the May 2022 Science & Nature Film Festival.

"Soul eager for life
Fear not to leave your four walls of illusions
Breathe!"

Conversation with the main filmmaking team of the film on the creative process designing the movie.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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SNOWSTORM was the winner of Best Sound & Music at the January 2022 Environmental Film Festival.

”A meditative glimpse of Seagulls and Bufflehead Ducks navigating a snowstorm.”

Film also playing at the WILDsound TV app next month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

Conversation with Milwaukee, Wisconsin filmmaker David Busse on the making of the film.

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THE LIVING SEA was the winner of BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY at the December 2021 Toronto Documentary Film Festival. You can watch for free and sign up at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform.

“Young scuba diver Ema Poposka believes if people could see the beauty of the ocean and of the corals, they will change their minds about sea protection. This inspired her to join Action for a Cause to produce a documentary film about Hong Kong corals.”

Conversation with young Hong Kong filmmaker Ema Poposka on the making of the film.

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WATCH THE FEET was the winner of BEST ENVIRONMENTAL FILM at the December 2021 Environmental Film Festival. You can watch for free and sign up at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform.

“In just a few minutes, the character Elsie (LC) will show consumers how to consider a products’ entire life cycle to make their actions have more impact than just the words.”

Conversation with Sashko Danylenko & Laura Tufariello on the collaborative process making the film.

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THE DARK HOBBY was the winner of BEST FEATURE FILM at the December 2021 ENVIRONMENTAL Film Festival. There is a 2nd screening on the WILDsound APP in February. You can watch for free and sign up at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS).

In Hawaii, a group of Native Hawaiians and conservationists struggles politically to protect the exotic fish being looted from the reefs. Turtles, whales, and dolphins are all protected, but not the fish. Now many verges on extinction. 28 million fish are in the aquarium trade pipeline at any given time. They undergo bladder piercing, fin cutting and starvation for shipment and reach the mainland dead or dying. They would have lived up to forty years on a reef. Fish species are in crisis worldwide and many are caught with cyanide and dynamite.

Conversation with documentary director Paula Fouce on the making of the film.

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WE ARE NATURE was the winner of Best Direction at the December 2022 Environmental Film Festival. Co-produced by Bacon Productions, based in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm.

Conversation with filmmaker Christian Holm-Glad on the making of the film. He also shares the amazing story when he caught the Black Plaque in 2017, the first Norwegian in hundreds of years to do so.

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TIMELESS DRIFT was the winner of BEST SOUND & MUSIC at the November 2021 Documentary Short Film Festival. You can watch the film and festival for FREE today HERE.

“Short poetic documentary showcasing the Coppermine River in the Canadian Arctic through the long journey of a driftwood log witnessing some of the life and history tied to the river all the way to the Arctic Ocean.”

Conversation with filmmaker Mathieu Dumond on the making of the film.

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