New UK nature film award launched by Borderlines film festival.

March 2011. Borderlines Film Festival, the UK's largest rural film festival, screening over 17 days in 40 venues in Herefordshire and Shropshire is delighted to announce a new biennial film award Under Open Skies, for the best films about Britain's Natural World. Borderlines is indebted to Wyevale Nurseries for initiating and funding these awards that will highlight the best documentaries on Britain's natural world in both amateur and professional categories.

The award has been set up to honour Harry Williamson, founder of the Wyevale Garden Centre and a keen, dedicated and talented amateur film-maker. Specialising in the natural world, he made more than eleven films over a period of twenty years including the delightful River Wye, following the river through the changing seasons, and Fair County, on Herefordshire's abundant natural beauty. By showing the films around the county Harry Williamson helped to raise funds for Herefordshire Nature Trust .
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Under Open Skies screenings at Borderlines Film Festival, Friday 25 March to Sunday 10 April 2011

If you like wildlife, natural landscapes and have the slightest interest in Britain's rich flora and fauna, then this is for you. Witness some of the very best amateur filmmaking and revel in spectacular professional films as they compete in our new Award for the Best Films on Britain's Natural World.

Amateur Competition + Award Ceremony
Thursday 7 April 6.15pm, The Courtyard Hereford
Luxuriate in some breathtaking images. Experience Britain's largest beetle Hudson's Monarch in the Hampshire countryside and our largest land mammal in the Caledonian forest of Where the Wild Things Were. Delight in rare, chance footage of Dartmoor Otter Cubs and the exquisite images of south Shropshire wildlife that are Born to Run. Join schoolchildren in an enchanting film as they go on Sprogwatch at the Geltsdale RSPB reserve.

Professional Competition Screenings 1

Thursday 7 April 8.30pm, The Courtyard Hereford
First up, the big birds in East Scotland Sea Eagles - a behind the scenes insight from the RSPB into the re-introduction of wild Sea Eagle chicks from Norway to the east coast of Scotland. Followed by The Wild Places of Essex, a beautifully crafted homage to that most maligned of English counties - written and presented by Robert Macfarlane.

Professional Competition Screenings 2 + Award Ceremony

Saturday 9 April 8.15pm, The Courtyard Hereford
Masked Raiders from Ibex films, takes the unusual form of an historical retelling of the conflict between people and one of Britain's rarest predators, the polecat, from the 1800s to the present day. Lost Call, an RSPB film made over 10 years, chronicles the ambitious re-introduction of the corncrake to the East Anglian lowlands. Inspired by the wilderness of Dartmoor and presented by Resurgence editor and former Jain monk Satish Kumar, Earth Pilgrim is a eulogy on the transformative power of the natural world.

Under Open Skies judges are Liz Bomford, wildlife photographer and writer; Malcolm Penny, writer and producer on the survival series; Wincey Willis, TV & radio presenter and author.