Name: Mike Pandey

Biography:

Mike Pandey is one of India's foremost wildlife and environmental filmmakers with over 300 national and international awards. Several of his films, such as Shores of Silence, The Last Migration, Broken Wings and The Timeless Traveller, to name a few, have been directly instrumental in bringing about legislative changes to protect species such as whale sharks, elephants, vultures and horse-shoe crabs.

Mike was born in Kenya. The Nairobi National Park, which was situated at the back of the Pandey household in Kenya, proved a rich source of inspiration for both him and his brother I. C. Pandey. His dalliance with the camera started when he was barely seven when an uncle presented him a Kodak Browning Box camera on his birthday. He still owns that heirloom.

Name: GAFI & Madelaine Westwood

Biography:

The Great Apes Film Initiative (GAFI), set up by Madelaine Westwood in 2005, uses the power of film and other media in the service of conservation. They have three target audiences: Presidents and Government Ministers, National Television Audiences and Local Communities (including schools, universities, karaoke bars, river boats, wildlife management centres, army & national park rangers).

They currently work in 17 of the 23 great apes range states across Africa and SE Asia and approximately 300 million people have seen, through GAFI screenings, donated films made by the BBC, National Geographic and many independent producers. To measure the impact of these films, they do questionnaires at community screenings and then support the local solutions requested. As a result, projects alongside the screenings take place... Things like tree planting, training NGO's to make their own films in local languages, alternative income revenue support (e.g. bee keeping!) and educational talks.

Name: Richard Brock - The Brock Initiative

Biography:

Richard Brock studied zoology and botany at Cambridge University and upon graduation joined the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol. He worked in the BBC NHU for 35 years producing, among others, the highly successful Life on Earth and Living Planet series, collaborating with David Attenborough and gaining international recognition as an accomplished producer. Concerned by the Corporationʼs lack of willingness to address the real current state of the environment however, he left the BBC and started his own independent production company, Living Planet Productions.

"These days it's simply not good enough to use the old response... "If people know about it they'll care for it and do something". Wrong. They'll just go on being conned that it's all perfect out there, with endless jungles, immaculate Masai Maraʼs, and untouched oceans. What planet are they on about?"

Living Planet Productions has made over 100 films on a wide range of environmental topics, shown all over the world. As his archive of films and footage mounted up, Richard felt that there was something more, better, that could be done with this resource.

Name: Sir David Attenborough

Biography:

David Attenborough is Britain's best-known natural history film-maker. His career as a naturalist and broadcaster has spanned five decades and there are very few places on the globe that he has not visited.

Sir David joined the BBC in 1952, as a trainee producer, and it was while working on the Zoo Quest series (1954-64) that he had his first opportunity to undertake expeditions to remote parts of the globe to capture intimate footage of rare wildlife in its natural habitat.

He was Controller of BBC2 (1965-68), during which time he introduced colour television to Britain, then Director of Programmes for the BBC (1969-1972). However in 1973 he abandoned administration altogether to return to documentary-making and writing.

Name: Shekar Dattatri

Biography:

An avid naturalist since the age of ten, 47-year old Shekar Dattatri is one of India's leading wildlife filmmakers. An internationally respected and frequently awarded producer/director/cameraman of blue chip natural history films, he consciously turned his back on television at the height of his professional career in 2000, to work with conservation NGOs in India.

Armed with a Canon XL-1, the determination to make a difference, and a nuanced understanding of India's conservation problems, he embarked on a series of hard-hitting films that were edited on a PC at home. Some of these films, such as ‘Mindless Mining - The Tragedy of Kudremukh' and ‘The Ridleys Last Stand' bolstered the efforts of conservation advocacy groups and helped bring about change. ‘Mindless Mining', in particular, played a pivotal role in bringing to an end a government run iron ore mining operation in the heart of a rainforest ecosystem in south India's Western Ghats mountain range.

Name: Éamon de Buitléar

Biography:

ÉAMON de BUITLÉAR is Irelands best known independent wildlife filmmaker. He has dedicated his life to influencing public opinion and government policy on environmental issues, through his films books and engagement with the public.

Éamon de Buitléar has been making independent wildlife films since the early nineteen sixties. He began by writing and presenting radio programmes on traditional Irish music prior to the arrival of television in Ireland.

His Amuigh Faoin Spéir series (Out Under the Sky) which he co-produced and originated with Dutch artist Gerrit Van Gelderen, was Irelands very first wildlife series. It was the very first time that Irish wildlife was beamed into Irish households and the effect was quite dramatic The programmes had a major influence on the Irish publics attitude to the environment. Later programmes included; The Natural World and The Living Isles ( BBC) and TV series such as Exploring the Landscape, Irelands Wild Countryside, A Life in the Wild ( RTE). Wild Islands) RTE, STV and S4C) Nature Watch (ITV), Éiníní and Ainimhithe na hÉireann (TG4).