Irish Tiger Documentary Wins Top Awards at the World's Most Prestigious Wildlife Film Festival
Bod Scannan na hEireann/the Irish Film Board funded documentary BROKEN TAIL has picked up three major awards at the world's leading Wildlife Film Festival - Jackson Hole in Wyoming USA, including Best Conservation, Best Hosted or Presenter-Led film together with the Grand Teton Award
The Grand Teton Award is regarded as the biggest award in the natural history film industry and Broken Tail saw off competition from over 500 of the best international wildlife films to win the overall award at this prestigious festival.
The festival brings together the world's best natural history broadcasters, producers and filmmakers and has grown to be the largest and most highly regarded competition of the wildlife & natural history genre. This year's Festival received a record number of submissions competing for their highly coveted awards.
Reacting to the win, film Producer and co-Director John Murray said “Jackson Hole is a unique festival held every two years to celebrate the finest wildlife and natural history films. To win Best of Festival in a field that included BBC's Life and Human Planet series is an extraordinary honour.”
Broken Tail was funded by the Irish Film Board & RTÉ, along with CBC, SWR, ZDF, ARTE, MEDIA, Nature for WNET, BBC.
About the Film
Broken Tail - A journey into the last days of the wild tiger
One of the world’s leading tiger cameramen travels through India on a personal pilgrimage, piecing together the extraordinary journey of Broken Tail - one of the planet's most famous wild tigers. Irish Cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson spent almost 600 days filming Broken Tail & his family for some of the finest tiger documentaries ever made. Broken Tail was the most charismatic tiger cub he'd ever seen in Ranthambhore, one of India's premier wild tiger reserves. Impossibly cute, he gamboled 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 wilds of rural India for almost a year. He was barely three years old.
Why did this young tiger leave Ranthambhore National Park, supposedly one of India’s best-protected tiger reserves? How could he have survived in rural India for so long? What does his death reveal about the fate of the world’s last tigers?
On a spectacular odyssey across Rajasthan, Colin travels by horseback retracing Broken Tail’s last journey, gathering clues as to his route and behaviour, exploring why he abandoned his home and above all – revealing important truths about India's last wild tigers.
About the Festival
Recognised as the premier event of its genre, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival is an unparalleled industry gathering. Over 650 international delegates participate in an exceptional slate of leading edge equipment presentations, seminars and state of the art screenings. This years competition included over 500 films from more than 30 countries - a record number of submissions.
About Crossing the Line Films
Crossing the Line Films is an award-winning Irish television production company specialising in adventure, nature, travel and historical documentaries. They produce extensively for their home networks and many of the world's leading broadcasters on subjects as diverse as lost Arctic expeditions, the world's last great nomadic journeys and tigers. The company was originally founded in 1993 to document the first successful Irish expedition to Mount Everest and has since gone on to produce some of the most successful Irish-made documentaries of recent years. Crossing the Line has filmed in over 80 countries and in some of the highest, most remote and breathtaking locations on Earth. Their productions have broadcast worldwide in over 150 different countries.