Edge of Nature: Short Film Fund Program 2023

The EDGE of Nature: Short Film Fund supports and nurtures emerging natural world storytellers to create fresh, out-of-the-box storytelling approaches to engage GenZ audiences and spotlight EDGE species and habitats.

Applications will be open to filmmakers globally. Successful grantees will receive training, support, mentorship, and their films will be previewed at Wildscreen Festival 2024.

Funding Information

• Grants of between £2,000 to £15,000 are available.

Eligible Project

• To be eligible, a project must:
  • Have an aspect of an Edge Species or Edge Zone as the central focus.
  • Be submitted by the producer, director, writer, or creator (or their authorised representative).
  • Be a film-based short (minimum 1 minute, maximum 40 minutes). It can be any genre, including animation and genres other than traditional natural history.
  • Be at development or pre-production stage. Projects are eligible if the principal photography has been completed but must not be finished or released publicly or be funded by any broadcaster, platform, sales agent etc.
  • Projects that have secured in-kind support (i.e. donation of camera kit, accommodation etc) are eligible.
  • Not have received prize funds from a previous Wildscreen Festival Wild Pitch.
  • Not infringe the copyright or any other intellectual property rights of any other person.
  • No more than 20 percent of the Project should be comprised of archive or stock footage.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible Applicant(s) must:
  • Be 18 years of age on or before the 1st October 2023.
  • Not have any professional (i.e. broadcast) Producer or Director credits (please note that this does not include student projects).
  • Have less than five cumulative years of paid experience within the film and television industry.
  • Have a maximum of one Assistant Producer credit.
  • Not be in full time education at any point between October 1st 2023 and November 1st 2024.
  • Be able to prove that the work submitted and presented is theirs and they are the rights owner of the content and idea.
• An application can be submitted by one person or a team. If a team, only two people can participate in the virtual live pitching session in October 2023.
• Only one application submission is permitted per entrant/team.
• Applicants are not required to be currently working in the wildlife film and TV industry, and/or have any credits and can be from any role, including but not limited to assistant producer (max one assistant producer credit), cinematographer, editor, presenter, scientist, conservationist, fixer, researcher etc.

For more information, visit Wildscreen.