New Chairman Announced for Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival

The board of directors of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festivalannounced the recent election of its new chairman, William R. Grant. Inhis position as the director of Science, Natural History and Featuresprograms at WNET, the New York based flagship of the U.S. publictelevision system, Grant is in charge of one of publictelevision’s largest documentary production departments. He wasresponsible for “Nature,” one of public television’smost watched continuing series, as well as several natural historymini-series. Programs produced under his supervision have won sevenNational News and Documentary Emmy awards and three George FosterPeabody awards.

Grant was executive producer of “Innovation” and“Going Places,” two continuing PBS series, and numerousmini-series, including “America on Wheels,” “SavageSkies,” “Savage Earth,” “Savage Seas,”“Knife to the Heart,” “Stephen Hawking’sUniverse,” “On the Trail of Mark Twain,” “TheAmerican President” and the forthcoming “In Search ofAncient Ireland.” In addition to “Nature, he served asexecutive in charge of production for the mini-series “SavagePlanet,” “Secrets of the Dead,” “Secrets of thePharaohs,” “Warship,” “Africa,”“1900 House” and the forthcoming “FrontierHouse” and “The Secret Life of the Brain.”

Grant has served on the festival’s board of directors sinceits inception in 1991. He notes, “In the decade since it wasfounded, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival has become one of themost important venues in the world for natural history producers andbroadcasters. It is a market, a trade show and an educationalexperience -- all taking place at the foot of the Tetons. Who could askfor anything more? I am proud to have been involved with the festivalfrom the beginning and I hope my term as chairman will build on thework of my predecessors, Wolfgang Bayer and Barry Clark, in preservingwhat is very special about this festival.”

Steve Burns, the senior vice president of Production at DiscoveryChannel and the festival board vice-chairman adds, “Bill Grantknows everyone in the business. He is a consummate broadcastprogrammer, and has been such an important advocate for independentfilmmakers that he is the natural choice to lead the Jackson HoleFestival.”

The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival is a non-profit organizationwhose primary mission is, “To encourage the production of naturalhistory programming around the world by providing nonfiction filmmakersand broadcasters with an international film forum to conduct business,test new equipment, refine program production techniques and continueto seek new and more effective ways to promote awareness andsensitivity to wildlife and wildlife habitats.” With more than700 industry professionals participating in the biennial, weeklongfestival and over 650 entrants in the film competition, the eventhosted by the organization is considered the most prestigious event ofthe natural history filmmaking community.

"The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival has been more than ashowcase for the best in its genre. It also has a strong tradition ofprofessional seminars, symposia and demonstrations addressing keyfacets of wildlife film and video production and distribution.Increasingly, the festivals address a range of technical issues,emerging technologies and business trends," describes writer CarlMrozek in TV Technology magazine.

The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival is sponsored by 25 globalorganizations. They range from major broadcasting corporations andproduction companies to post-production houses and conservationorganizations. Its board of directors includes: Animal Planet, BBCNatural History Unit, Canal+, Crawford Communications, DevillierDonegan Enterprises, Discovery Channel, Dolby Laboratories, EastmanKodak Company, ERWDA, Fujinon, Granada Wild, Hi-Vision America, Inc.,LaserPacific Media Corporation, National Geographic Television,National Wildlife Federation, Natural History New Zealand, Nature/WNET,NHK/Japanese Broadcasting, NOVA/WGBH, ORF/Austrian Television,Panasonic Broadcast and Television Systems, Sony Electronics, TurnerFoundation, Writer’s Guild of America, west, and ZDFEnterprises.