HHMI TANGLED BANK STUDIOS, PASSION PLANET AND PBS NATURE’S “MY GARDEN OF A THOUSAND BEES” WINS 2022 KAVLI SCIENCE JOURNALISM AWARD
Film recognized for distinguished science reporting
November 10, 2022 - MY GARDEN OF A THOUSAND BEES won a 2022 Gold AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award, which recognizes distinguished science reporting for a general audience. The award, administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), was selected by independent panels of science journalists and will be delivered in a virtual ceremony in March during the 2023 AAAS Annual Meeting.
Sharing the Gold Award in the Video In-Depth Reporting category are filmmaker Martin Dohrn, Sean B. Carroll, Head of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios; David Guy Elisco, executive producer for HHMI Tangled Bank Studios; Producer Gaby Bastyra and Director David Allen from Passion Planet; and Fred Kaufman, executive producer for Nature on PBS. MY GARDEN OF A THOUSAND BEES was co-produced with Passion Planet, and the WNET Group, in association with Ammonite films, and premiered on Nature/PBS on October 21, 2021.
Judge Michael Werner, a science journalist and film producer, praised Dohrn’s stunning cinematography. “Making this all the more impressive,” Werner said, “is how difficult it is to film creatures this small and fast. Excellent observations and natural history combined with creative storytelling make this story incredibly compelling.”
MY GARDEN OF A THOUSAND BEES recently won four awards from Wildscreen, known as the “Green Oscars,” including the Golden Panda, which honors the best international wildlife film of the year. It also won three Jackson Wild Media Awards and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Nature Documentary.
Martin Dohrn, the film’s cinematographer and narrator, said: “We were just having fun really, experimenting with new lenses and lots of slow motion to see what we could see, trying our best to record some wild bee behavior. So to have this film recognized as useful to science is a huge surprise — and a huge honor.”
“We are thrilled that the film is being recognized for both its scientific value in recording bee behavior that has never been captured before on film and for its storytelling appeal,” said Head of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios Sean B. Carroll. “Martin’s film has opened viewers’ eyes to the life of native bees and how humans can help them thrive.”
“Martin Dohrn’s emotional connection with the bees in his garden resonated with millions in America and helped people gain a new appreciation for these vital insects,” said Fred Kaufman, executive producer for Nature. “We’re delighted to see the film recognized for its impact.”
“Martin’s genius for filming insects does not just push at the boundaries of what we can see, he re-invents the possibilities for telling stories about the life of an individual bee,” said director Dave Allen of Passion Planet. “The way Martin describes the nature around him makes it hard to look the world in the same way again.”
Locked down during the coronavirus pandemic, MY GARDEN OF A THOUSAND BEES follows acclaimed wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn as he sets out to record all the bee species in his tiny urban garden in Bristol, England. Filming with one-of-a-kind lenses he forged at his kitchen table, he catalogs more than 60 different species, from Britain’s largest bumblebees to scissor bees the size of a mosquito. Over long months, Dohrn observes how differences in behavior set different species apart. He eventually gets so close to the bees he can identify individuals by sight, documenting life at their level as we have never seen it before. For more details about MY GARDEN OF A THOUSAND BEES, and to stream it for free on PBS, visit www.mygardenofathousandbees.org.
About HHMI Tangled Bank Studios
HHMI Tangled Bank Studios is a mission-driven production company that crafts exceptional films where science is a lens for making sense of our world, while inspiring awe and wonder. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the studio, led by biologist Sean B. Carroll, is uniquely positioned to shine a light on some of the most significant scientific challenges and breakthroughs of our time. Recent films include Emmy Award-winners The Serengeti Rules and The Farthest – Voyager In Space; Emmy-nominated Nature’s Fear Factor and My Garden of a Thousand Bees; Peabody Award winner Inventing Tomorrow; and All That Breathes, the only documentary to win best documentary at the Sundance, Cannes, and London film festivals. To extend the reach and impact of each film, the studio undertakes educational and public outreach efforts in partnership with mission-driven organizations. For more information, please visit WWW.TANGLEDBANKSTUDIOS.ORG.
About Nature
Since 1982, Nature has pioneered a television genre that is now widely emulated in the broadcast industry, bringing the natural world to millions of viewers. The series has won more than 700 honors from the television industry, the international wildlife film communities and environmental organizations, including 21 Emmys and three Peabodys. Consistently among the most-watched primetime series on PBS, Nature continues to innovate through original digital programming, such as the Webby Award nominated podcast Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant and digital series Animal IQ and Crash Course: Zoology. Nature’s award-winning website, pbs.org/nature, features full episodes, short films, digital series, behind-the-scenes content, news articles, educational resources and more.
About Passion Planet
With three Oscars, three BAFTAs, and numerous Emmy awards, Passion Pictures is a global production company with a worldwide reputation for its feature documentaries, landmark television productions, animation and commercials. At Passion Planet, David Allen masterminds a film department focusing on natural history, science and specialist factual output across both landmark television and theatrical release feature documentaries. With five Emmys and twelve Wildscreen Pandas to his name, David is recognised as one of the leading independent producer/directors in his field. His production for BBC, My Life as a Turkey, was described by The Times “as probably the best documentary of the year” and won Wildscreen’s coveted “Best of Festival” Golden Panda. More recent productions including the landmark series Earth: A New Wild & H20: The Molecule that Made Us, each winning consecutive years Wildscreen’s best series award. Recently David produced Emmy award-winning The Serengeti Rules. The Octopus in My House and My Garden of a Thousand Bees, chosen to open the 40th anniversary year of PBS series Nature and also won the Golden Panda this year. At Passion, David is working on a new Evolution series for PBS and completing a drama documentary on the bestselling book Wilding by Isabella Tree.
Press contacts:
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HHMI Tangled Bank Studios
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PR Collaborative
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