Natural force in wildlife films

Amateur filmmaker Dave Anderson of Dana Point got a little uneasy when he learned his video about dolphins was a finalist in the International Wildlife Film Festival, way up in northwestern Montana.

The what? Where? Sure, he’d sent his video to some film festivals he found listed on the Internet. But a finalist? It seemed -- well, too easy.

So Anderson called an editor he knew at MacGillivray Freeman Films in Laguna Beach, a major producer of Imax films. And there he was told that in the world of nature films, the IWFF is a very big deal indeed.

MacGillivray, in fact, had its own entry, and “Coral Reef Adventure” is a prize winner this year, along with films from National Geographic, the British Broadcasting Co., the Discovery Channel, Oxford University, Thirteen/WNET of New York, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Light & Shadow GmbH of Germany, Tawak Pictures of France and the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Now in its 27th year, the nonprofit IWFF regularly attracts some 250 of the biggest names in wildlife filmmaking. About 10,000 people attend its annual week of screenings, workshops, seminars and deliberately glitz-less, Montana-style networking.

Keynote speakers at this year’s festival, which runs May 1 to May 8 in Missoula, will be two of the biggest names in the field: Tim Kelly, president of National Geographic Film & Television, and George Schaller, chief of science and exploration for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

“It’s one of the premiere wildlife film festivals in the world, and there’s really only a few, so it’s a big deal for us,” Kelly said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

“We’ve been involved since the beginning and have been a sponsor from the beginning,” he said. “We’re a big supporter, and it’s a great place to go. Nobody minds going to Missoula.”

Chris Palmer, president and chief executive of the National Wildlife Federation’s National Wildlife Productions, is an IWFF board member and said in a telephone interview from his home in Maryland that he never -- never -- misses the festival.

“It is not the biggest, it is not the best known, but it is, in my opinion, one of the most influential, and for a couple of reasons,” Palmer said.

One reason is simply its longevity. But more important, he said, are the principles that underlie it.

“This festival is concerned not just with selling and buying, although we all know that’s important,” Palmer said. “It’s equally concerned with the ethics of wildlife filmmaking, the scientific accuracy of filmmaking, with the quality of the programs.”

That was the whole purpose when grizzly bear researcher Charles Jonkel, then a University of Montana professor, created the IWFF as a project of the UM chapter of the Wildlife Society. He was appalled by the quality of the films of the time.

“They were so anthropomorphic, so full of inaccuracies it actually hurt wildlife,” he said. “As a researcher, I would find out things about bears and teach some public agencies about it ... and there’d be a film come out that would undercut it all. I said, ‘We’ve got to do something about the films.’ ”

Judging panels consist of six people from outside the IWFF with professional backgrounds in film or TV production, wildlife biology or science, humanities and the arts.

This year the IWFF received 247 entries from around the world, and about 60 -- including all the top winners -- will be shown during the festival.

“This is one of the few festivals where an absolute newcomer can come together with seasoned veterans and both can take something away with them,” said festival Executive Director Janet Rose.

Anderson is one of those absolute newcomers. As the guide for Captain Dave’s Dolphin Safari, he takes tourists out for close-up views of the dolphins and whales off the coast of Southern California. He started work on his film about five years ago, using a digital video camera, and would show some of the footage to passengers. One of them encouraged him to enter a film competition.

The IWFF was on a list he found on the Internet, so Anderson sent off a copy of “Wild Dolphins & Whales of Southern California.”

Many of the films entered in the festival each year go into the organization’s EarthVision video and film archives, with permission of the filmmakers, Rose said.

“As an educational resource, it’s incredible,” she said.