Its students are producing award-winning films and the centre is backing Dunedin's new international Scienceteller Film Festival, to be launched at this week's WildSouth Film Festival in Wanaka (April 12-15).
The centre evolved from a postgraduate diploma natural history film-making course in the zoology department and opened for business in 2008.
In that year, just one student enrolled for a master's degree but by the end of last year, 24 master's theses were handed in.
This year, 26 students are enrolled in the centre's master's programme.
Centre director and Stuart chair in science communication Prof Lloyd Davis said he was proud of what the centre had achieved in such a short time.
Only the departments of science and arts had more master's enrolments.
"It explains why we are working so hard." Otago University was the co-founder, in 2005, of Wanaka's two-yearly WildSouth Film Festival, held in conjunction with the Festival of Colour. The much larger film festival, Scienceteller, will screen in Dunedin from November 15-19. Top United States, Australian, Austrian and New Zealand film-makers and storytellers will attend.
Some the "best bits" would be at the WildSouth "launching pad" this week, Prof Davis said.
The WildSouth festival partners are Natural History New Zealand, Tele-Natura (a Spanish festival) Tales From Planet Earth, and Cinema Paradiso.
"One of the exciting things this year is that one of our student films was made by a Wanaka local, a celebrity and local hero, Hugh Barnard, a climbing guide.
It's called In The Shadow of the Mountain and is about being a climber and why they take risks and it won best direction at the Mammoth Mountain Film Festival," Prof Davis said.
US student Max Segal (27) was Mr Barnard's co-director and co-producer. Mr Segal has an undergraduate degree in biology from Santa Barbara University and had worked on a sports television show before studying in Dunedin last year. In June, he returns to California with an award-winning film and his Otago University master's degree to look for jobs in the US film industry. Mr Segal also plans to promote In The Shadows Of The Mountain at other North American film festivals.
Mr Barnard has just returned from Alaska and will be at WildSouth's launch tonight and give a presentation about his film on Thursday night.
• The WildSouth Film Festival launch is a ticketed event hosted by the Otago University Alumni at Cinema Paradiso tonight from 6pm.
The full programme is available on the festival and Cinema Paradiso websites.
