Wicklow company Crossing the Line Productions has won three awards for ‘On a River in Ireland’, a film version of their RTÉ wildlife documentary series ‘The Secret Life of the Shannon’, at the Wildscreen Film Festival.
The film took the WWF Golden Panda Award – for best overall production along with the best script award and also shared the Panasonic Cinematography Award.
Hundreds of films from around the world are entered into the Panda Awards and receiving a Panda is one of the highest accolades for a filmmaker in the natural history filmmaking industry.
RTÉ Head of Regional, Education and Wildlife programmes Ray McCarthy said: ‘We would like to congratulate Crossing The Line Films for a fantastic trio of awards, for a series that told the definitive story of Ireland’s most iconic river. RTÉ is committed to supporting the best of Irish wildlife filmmakers, who have shown that they can make world-class documentaries telling the unique stories of Ireland’s wild places for audiences both at home and abroad’.
John Murray, Director, Crossing The Line said: ‘My father grew up on the banks of the Shannon and to me as a child it was as wide and mysterious as the Amazon. In this film we tried to capture some of the wild animals and natural wonders that lie unseen under our very noses. It's hugely gratifying that a film featuring Ireland's wildlife would win against all comers from around the world and a huge thanks to the team and everyone who helped us around the country.’
Filmed over two years, the series features animal behaviour captured with the very latest camera technologies and brings a number of firsts to Irish natural history filmmaking – Daubenton’s bats filmed hunting in slow motion; whooper swans filmed in extreme close-up as they fly over the river’s great lakes; and a kingfisher fishing underwater, filmed at over 1,000 frames per second.
‘The Secret Life of the Shannon’ was produced by Crossing the Line in association with RTÉ, with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, ESB, Waterways Ireland, the Heritage Council and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
The series was produced by Cepa Giblin, directed by John Murray and edited by Emer Reynolds.
