CHAIR

Vanessa co-founded Wildstar Films in 2018 after 25 years of working for the BBC’s Natural History Unit. She made over 15 films for 5 award winning landmark series – Planet Earth, Frozen Planet, Life of Mammals, Land of the Tiger and the Human Animal – as well as for major long-running strands The Natural World and Wildlife on One and acclaimed series Animal People and Postcards from the Country. Her films have been highly awarded by EMMY, BAFTA, RTS, Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Missoula International Wildlife Festival and Wildscreen. She is also a BAFTA and Grierson nominated Director.

CHAIR

Mark co-founded Wildstar Films in 2018 after nearly 30 years of directing and producing award winning wildlife films. Mark began his career fronting a documentary about gorillas in the Congo. Mark produced and directed the BAFTA nominated Life of Mammals for the BBC, on which he travelled the world with Sir David Attenborough. He then went on to direct two episodes of the hit TV series Planet Earth, winning a Primetime EMMY for the opening show Pole to Pole. Mark followed this as Producer/Director and Series Writer for Frozen Planet.

FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER

Dr. Paula Kahumbu is a multi award winning Kenyan wildlife conservationist and CEO of the WildlifeDirect. She leads the highly successful Hands Off Our Elephants campaign which aims to restore Kenyan leadership in elephant conservation. She is also a host of television series titled Wildlife Warriors, the first wildlife series made by Africans for African audiences that seeks to shed a light on local heroes conserving the environment. In 2021  Paula was awarded the prestigious Whitley Gold Award and the Rolex National Geographic Explorer in recognition of her pioneering work for conservation and the environment.

FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER

Pragna is the director of Nature Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers. A film and television producer and production manager, she has a passion for the documentary genre with a focus on conservation, natural history, social justice and call to action filmmaking.  Pragna is passionate about female empowerment and particularly women in film. Together with her partner she founded the Nature, Environment and Wildlife Film Congress to celebrate African science, tell African stories and cultivate the modern African storyteller & natural history filmmaker.

VICE CHAIR

Chloe is a Series Producer/Show Runner and writer with 15 years of experience specialising in natural history and science for the BBC, Discovery and international channels where she has established several returning brands. During her time at the BBC’s Natural History Unit worked on the world-renowned Planet Earth strand, developed the 10 year running Nature’s Weirdest Events and produced the ground breaking Earth from Space.

FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER

Amanda Hill is a Board-level executive, specialising in global brand creation, development and transformation across Media, Luxury, Retail, Production + FMCG. Amanda founded BBC Earth, spearheading it’s development into a global brand reaching >1bn around the world. She was the first global CMO for BBC Worldwide/Studios and served as Global CMO for A&E Networks in New York. Amanda is On Purpose Group’s partner/ Chief Brands Officer.

PARTNERSHIPS

A Business graduate, Jo spent nine years marketing Holsten and Budweiser for Diageo followed by two years at Cable & Wireless (Mercury). Jo joined BBC Studios (fka BBC Worldwide) in 1998 and has held positions in marketing, business development, strategy and investment culminating in her latest roles as Director Factual and Director BBC Earth.

CINEMATOGRAPHER/MENTOR

BAFTA & multi award-winning natural history filmmaker and Director of Photography who has been making wildlife feature films and television for more than 25 years. She has an outstanding reputation as a highly experienced self-shooting cinematographer specialising in long lens camerawork, beautiful composition, high speed and animal behaviour. Sophie has worked on highly ambitious feature films for Disney Nature, BBC Earth and The Discovery Channel including Penguins, African Cats, Bears and Enchanted Kingdom 3D, and landmark television series for the BBC, Netflix, National Geographic, CBS, PBS & The Discovery Channel.

CINEMATOGRAPHER/MENTOR

Award winning cinematographer working across the globe on many of the BBC’s natural history landmark series from David Attenborough’s Life of Mammals to One Planet : Seven Worlds. Her love for the tropics led to a specialisation in tree canopy filming and also to a number of years taking part in expeditions for the BBC as a presenter and camerawoman in very challenging and remote locations. She is also known for being an expert in night filming and has captured some extraordinary nocturnal behaviour over the years, some of it never seen before.