Center For The Arts: Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival

About the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival

Launched in 1991, the Wildlife Film Festival has become an unparalleled international event recognized as premier in its genre. For one week every other fall, some 700 filmmakers, writers and producers join leading scientists and conservationists in the heart of Grand Teton National Park to exchange and challenge ideas, explore new technology and celebrate the world's finest examples of natural history and wildlife filmmaking through the Festival's film competition. The 2007 award winners were selected from over 700 category entries including: Best Cinematography, Best Writing and Best Animation not to mention Best Environmental and Best Animal Behavior Program.

In addition to the fall festival, the Wildlife Film Festival presents environmental education programs in Jackson throughout the year. Collaborating with the school district and local nonprofit groups, the Festival hosts a number of programs featuring community film screenings, educational curriculum, and lectures by distinguished filmmakers.

This year, professional documentary filmmakers have joined high school students to create their own documentary projects. Concurrently, second grade students throughout the Valley are visiting the Elk Refuge for a variety of art and science projects over the course of the '07-08 school year, to develop an enduring kinship and awareness of this unique environment through art, literature, film and science.

In The News

Wildlife Film Festival announces 2009 Competition Finalists

Jul. 29, 2009

In July, the Wildlife Film Festival wrapped a week of preliminary judging for the 2009 Film Competition. Judges from around the world came to town to view 425 films entered into more than 20 categories including Best Animal Behavior, Children's, Cinematography, Conservation, Short and Newcomer. Finalists are now online at www.jhfestival.org/festival/festival2009/finalists.htm. The 2009 winners will be determined during the media industry conference held Sept. 28-Oct. 2 at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park. Winning films will be screened in downtown Jackson the following weekend, Oct. 3-4. Film fanatics are invited to meet the filmmakers and enjoy the world's finest nature films of the year. Wildlife Film Festival members will be able to borrow this collection following the Festival events this fall. To learn more about the membership program and its benefits, or to support the Festival and its community screenings, please call (307) 733-7016 or vis...

Free nature films planned throughout 2009

Jan. 25, 2009

Thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, free wildlife and nature films will continue to be screened in the Center Theater in 2009, often accompanied by experts in related fields. The series, to be presented by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Center for the Arts and Center for Wonder – which in February will take up offices in the Center for the Arts as a new resident nonprofit – lifts off on Sunday, Feb. 8, with "Landing the Eagle," episode three of the Discovery Channel's six-part mini-series "When We Left Earth," which chronicles 50-plus years of human space exploration. The screening is part of an evening-long program titled "Discover the Universe" that also will feature the University of Wyoming's Science Posse – a band of wandering graduate students who bring research, materials, resources and information to schools, teachers and communities around the state – leading scientific experime...

Film Fest hosts portable planetarium, special screening, renowned elephant researchers during 2008 symposium

Aug. 27, 2008

Back in the '90s or thereabouts, the new, exciting frontier in filmmaking was digital technology, high-definition video, computers transforming the industry. The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival was right there at the edge of the envelope, hosting technical seminars where filmmakers could meet and learn from each other about how to make the most of the new toys and gadgets. But now HD is a done deal. "There's nothing new to talk about," said Lisa Samford, executive director for the Wildlife Film Festival. The new hot thing is non-broadcast media – films and multi-media presentations and podcasts for museums, zoos and cultural institutions – and that's where the festival is now venturing. The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival hosts its Symposium 2008 on Sept. 23-25. Working with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and basing the agenda on direct demand from the filmmakers and industry folks, the festival is billing the event as the first-ever confer...

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