Wanaka's Wild South Film Festival will showcase some of the best natural history films around the world next week.
The festival is being held at Cinema Paradiso from April 28-31 and runs in conjunction with the Festival of Colour.
It will be launched by a preview of Grahame Sydney's unfinished documentary Dreaming of El Dorado: The Old Dunstan Rd.
Dunedin film-makers Lloyd Spencer Davis and Weibke Hendry will also screen their film Wind Dancer, which tells the story of Dunedin dancer Shona Dunlop MacTavish.
Another highlight is the Emmy Award nominee Blue Vinyl, which uses humour to tell the environmental truth about vinyl.
Each day at midday, the festival will screen films by the Otago University's Centre for Science Communication, including Prints of Darkness, which tracked sightings of a mysterious black panther through the South Island high country.
Two award-winning student films are also on the programme: Mad Mac and the Flat Ugly Snail which won the best documentary at the 2006 Santa Barbara Ocean Film Festival; and Exhuming Adams, which won the best newcomer at Bristol's WildScreen festival.
The full programme is:
Tuesday April 28: Dreaming of El Dorado: The Old Dunstan Rd (by Grahame Sydney); Lessons from a Melting Icecap: from Dunedin to Greenland (by three Otago Girls High School pupils); Geckos Rock (filmed mostly in Central Otago); Super Mole (the adventures of a super-mammal); The Cray Fish in a Jam Jar (an award-winning German film); Wind Dancer: the story of Shona Dunlop MacTavish (by Dunedin film-makers Lloyd Spencer Davis and Weibke Hendry); The Great Lakes (a journey from Lake Superior to Lake Ontario).
Wednesday April 29: Dreaming of El Dorado (repeat); Mad Mac and the Flat Ugly Snail (an award winning story about paua); Prints of Darkness (is that a panther I see?); What Lies Beneath: The Missing Miners (what lured Chinese goldseekers to New Zealand); Expedition Antarctica (50 days of science and storms); Colossal Squid (a terrifying juvenile predator is dissected by scientists); The Prince of the Alps (award-winning story about red deer).
Thursday April 30: Dreaming of El Dorado (repeat); Longfin (an ode to the eel); Exhuming Adams (a CSI-style investigation into the disappearance of a native mistletoe); Shark Nicole (tag and follow a great white shark); Jungle Water (creatures of Costa Rico); Kararea: the Pine Falcon (wildlife photographer George Chance's study of the New Zealand falcon); Blue Vinyl (the environmental truth about vinyl).
Friday May 1: Blue Vinyl (repeat); A Moment of Clarity (life as a beech forest); Whetu Rere: The Sea Lion and the Comet (a heart-rending must see); Wind Dancer (repeat); Expedition Antarctica (repeat); The Great Lakes (repeat); The Prince of the Alps (repeat).
