RTÉ Television
BROKEN TAIL DOCUMENTARY WINS THREE AWARDS AT PRESTIGIOUS WILDLIFE FILM FESTIVAL
The RTÉ co-production Broken Tail’s Last Journey has won three awards including Best of Festival at the Jackson Hole Festival in Wyoming. Internationally renowned as the largest and most prestigious competition of the nature genre, this year’s Festival competition included 510 films from more than 30 countries entering 800 categories—a record number of submissions competing for 22 special category awards.
More than eighty judges from North America, Europe, Asia and Africa participated in the preliminary selections. The 2011 award winners were selected by a distinguished panel in Jackson Hole preceding the five-day industry conference held in Grand Teton Park at the Jackson Lake Lodge and were announced at a Gala celebration yesterday, Thursday, October 6th.
The documentary first aired on RTÉ One in April 2010. Presenter Colin Stafford-Johnson spent almost 600 days filming Broken Tail and his family for some of the finest tiger documentaries ever made. Broken Tail was the most flamboyant tiger cub he’d ever seen in Ranthambhore, one of India’s premier wild tiger reserves. Impossibly cute, he gambolled and posed for Colin’s camera through the first years of his life. But then without warning, Broken Tail disappeared. He abandoned his sanctuary and went on the run, disappearing into the Indian wilderness for almost a year. He was barely three years old.
On a spectacular journey across Rajasthan, Colin travelled by horseback retracing Broken Tail’s last journey, gathering clues as to his route and his behaviour, asking why he abandoned the park and above all – searching for the truth behind the future of the last wild tigers in India.
Along with Best of Festival Broken Tail’s Last Journey scooped awards in the Best Conservation Program category sponsored by Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the Best Hosted or Presenter – Led Program category sponsored by Animal Planet.
Steve Carson, Director of Programmes, RTÉ Television said, “Competing against the best-funded and most respected producers of wildlife and nature programming in the world, we’re particularly proud that Broken Tail’s Last Journey has been given these awards. Talent will out. Colin Stafford Johnson is a master of the genre. I want to thank him and Crossing the Line Films, who delivered the production values and compelling footage that is demonstrably world-class.”
Produced and co-directed by John Murray for Crossing the Line Films, Broken Tail’s Last Journey was funded by the IFB, RTÉ, along with CBC, SWR, ZDF, ARTE, MEDIA, Nature for WNET, BBC.
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Date: Friday October 7th 2011
Note to editors: Photos of Broken Tail will be sent to photodesks
For further information please contact:
Rayna Connery, RTÉ Television Press and Publicity Officer Tel: 01 208 3169 email: rayna.connery@rte.ie
Jackson Hole Festival http://jhfestival.org/festival/filmcomp.htm