Silverback, the natural history production company behind Our Planet and the recently launched Wild Isles, is to be honoured with the fourth annual MIP SDG Award at MIPTV in Cannes later this month, for its commitment to climate action and the environment.
Established in association with the United Nations in support of its Decade of Action campaign, the MIP SDG Award recognises media companies for their action and contribution to delivering against the UN’s 17 SDGs.
This year will see All3 Media’s Silverback (Silverback Film and Studio Silverback) recognised for its work and support of the UN goals directed at ‘climate action’ and the conservation of ‘life below water’ and ‘life on land.’
The session on Tuesday, 19th April, in the Palais des Festivals will include an on-stage interview with Jonnie Hughes covering both the craft behind, and the purpose driving, the company’s globally impactful work. The award will be presented by Caroline Petit of the United Nations.
Founded by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, the UK-based Silverback Films has beomce renowned for its global wildlife landmark series, including Our Planet, David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet, and the recently launched Wild Isles. Fothergill was also previously the series producer and executive producer behind Blue Planet, Frozen Planet, and Planet Earth.
In 2020, the founders established Studio Silverback with Jonnie Hughes and the former WWF executive director Colin Butfield to launch a multi-platform arm focusing on films that tackle the world’s pressing environmental challenges. Studio Silverback credits include The Earthshot Prize: Repairing Our Planet and the YouTube original series Seat at the Table.
Caroline Petit, deputy director of the United Nations Regional Information Centre, said: “This annual award recognises the creative programming of Silverback that reaches millions of viewers worldwide.
“It also demonstrates the television and media industry’s increasing commitment to generate innovative content on the topic of sustainability. This award is timely as 2023 must be a year of game-changing climate action.
“Both the audio-visual and licencing industries have the power to be agents of change as they are in direct contact with consumers and viewers. They can appeal to the public to change their daily habits and ensure that we work together to create a better and more sustainable society.”
Previous recipients of MIP SDG Awards include Sky, A+E Networks, and the media and entertainment company Junk Kouture. The award forms part of RX France’s ongoing commitment to the UN’s SDG Media Compact, an alliance of media and entertainment companies funded in 2018. The compact now numbers over 200 members committed to leveraging their resources and talent to amplify and accelerate progress towards achieving the UN’s 17 SDGs.
Jonnie Hughes, director, Studio Silverback, said: “We’re proud to receive this award for our work in supporting the SDGs. At Silverback, our mission is to combine powerful storytelling with world-class cinematography to reveal the urgent truth of our changing planet to a global audience as well as the opportunity we have for a sustainable future.
“We see that to drive real change, we must tackle the communications challenge. Through our wildlife series and features, our purpose-driven films, and our multi-media projects, we have been working to tell the story of sustainability in a new way and to achieve more through collaboration.
“It’s a huge task, but we’ve already made progress and we’re grateful to MIPTV and the United Nations for recognising our contribution so far.”
