LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. USA (May 20, 2011)—Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and longtime ocean conservationist Greg MacGillivray was honored with the IWFF Lifetime Achievement Award for Media during the 2011 International Wildlife Film Festival held last week in Missoula. MacGillivray was selected to receive the award for his life’s work producing and directing more than 30 award-winning IMAX Theatre films that promote greater understanding and awareness of science, wildlife and the natural world.
The award was presented by Janet Rose, Executive Director of the International Wildlife Film Festival. This year’s Festival also recognized Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, renowned for his work with elephants, with the IWFF Lifetime Achievement Award for Conservation, and Chris Palmer, president of MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation and founder and director of the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C, with the IWFF Wildlife Hero of the Year Award for his campaign to reform the wildlife filmmaking industry.
“Greg MacGillivray and his team at MacGillivray Freeman Films have reached and inspired tens of millions of viewers with their award-winning IMAX films and have set the gold standard for giant-screen educational films that promote conservation,” said Rose. “The significance of this and the programming that MacGillivray Freeman Films produces is enormous because those programs can in many ways change the way we as humans view the world and the way we respond to critical conservation issues.”
For more than 35 years, Greg MacGillivray has dedicated himself and his company to producing films that celebrate and promote science and conservation awareness at all levels of society. He has produced 36 films for IMAX Theatres, including the Oscar-nominated films The Living Sea and Dolphins. In 1998, his blockbuster film Everest achieved unprecedented critical acclaim and box office success and is currently the highest grossing IMAX Theatre film in history. MacGillivray is the only producer to have three films—To Fly!, The Living Sea, and Everest—inducted into the IMAX Hall of Fame.
In 2004, MacGillivray and his wife Barbara founded the non-profit MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation whose aim is to promote the conservation of our natural and cultural heritage through giant screen films and companion educational programming. In 2010 they also formed the non-profit One World One Ocean Foundation dedicated to restoring the health of the world’s oceans by changing the way people see and value their oceans. The Foundation is spearheading the largest global ocean media campaign of its kind—the One World One Ocean campaign—comprised of an 8-part television series, three 3D IMAX documentaries, a major studio theatrical documentary, a web series, an advertising campaign and a major social action campaign, all set to launch from 2012 through 2015.
About MacGillivray Freeman Films
MacGillivray Freeman Films is the world’s foremost independent producer and distributor of giant-screen 70mm films with 35 IMAX films to its credit. Throughout the company’s 40-year history, its films have won numerous international awards including two Academy Award® nominations and three films inducted into the IMAX Hall of Fame. MacGillivray Freeman’s films are known for their artistry and celebration of science and the natural world.
About International Wildlife Film Festival
IWFF was the first wildlife film festival in the world and is now also the longest running. It is one of the most important film festivals in the world, known for its emphasis on film, television, media conservation and networking in an intimate, relaxed and very down-home atmosphere. The Festival’s emphasis on wildlife conservation extends to a strong focus on the role and impact of wildlife, environmental and natural history film and television programming on the fate and future of our world. After the Festival is over, the IWFF Post Festival World Tours, the most extensive touring program in the world, take many of the award-winning films on the road, around the world to cities and communities across the globe.
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