Wildscreen Festival 2010:*Panda Award finalists 2010 (http://www.wildscreenfestival.org/index.php?pageid=341&parentid=312)

Scroll down on the link posted above, and you'll see that our own Mat Thompson, our beloved multi-champion and UWOL designer is a finalist for the BBC Newcomer of the Year Award for his film "Hudson's Monarch" -

The Panda, for those of you who may not know, is the Academy Award for wildlife cinematography.

Congratulations, Mat - a real testament to what hard work, determination, and perserverance can accomplish. You are an amazing shooter, as we all know. And now it appears that the rest of the world is about to know it, too!

The film itself is in black-out until its future is determined, but here is hoping that this opportunity is just the beginning of seeing all of Mat's hard work pay off...it is great to see Mat's dreams come true and to think that UWOL gave him an initial nudge towards finding his way.

We are all rooting for you, Mat! Awesome job. This is huge. And, while we are sharing the love -- thanks for all you have done 'round here to help everyone else bring their visions to life, as well.

Wow..... Congratulations on the nomination Mat !!!!!

Great news! Way to go Mat!

Congratulations Matt.....

BBC Newcomer Award

137 Carving the Future
Filmmakers - Guy Ryan & Nick Holmes (New Zealand) 25:00
164 Love in Cold Blood
Filmmakers - Carla Braun-Elwert & Jane Adcroft (New Zealand) 25:00
228 Hudson's Monarch
Filmmaker - Mat Thompson (United Kingdom) 13:05

That´s great news! Wow.
As Meryem, says this is huge. Thanks a lot Mat for being part of this great community. And keep us updated how this is going.

Congratulations Mat!!
Keep us updated.

Mat - well done on this, even to be nominated is excellent! The quality of your work for UWOL has always been outstanding, something for people like me to only dream of.

You deserve this, fella!

Matt,

Well, I am not surprised, you do awesome work. I hope the judicaters make the right choice, well the only choice in my book.


dale

Congrats my friend - way to go :)

Congratulations Mat!
That's so cool

Wonderful, wonderful news Mat! We are all very proud of you. As others have said, judging by the high standard of work you produce - this is well-earned!

Hey guys.

Many, many thanks :-)

As I'm sure you'll expect I'm chuffed to bits. Two years of work went into Hudson's Monarch and its so nice it will be put on such a big platform. The film is structured around the victorian naturalist W H Hudson and his writings on the stag beetle, it then looks at the stag beetles life cycle.

This is the films synopsis.

"It's not very often you chance upon royalty, but every year a warm Summer's evening in the South East of England may just reveal it. A monarch among hexapods was how the naturalist W H Hudson described the Stag beetle in his book Hampshire Days (1902). Its seasonal fleeting appearance hides an intriguing 6 year life cycle, a cycle which is now under threat. Hudson's Monarch takes you on a trip underground, overground and into the air, revealing the details of this elusive yet majestic insect's life."

I'll try and post some stills into the main uwol forum soon and maybe a sequence or two from the film.

Many thanks
Mat

Matt, congradulations, what an honor. We are all very proud of you. Bob

Thanks Bob!

Some screen grabs have been posted in the main forum as promised.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/under-water-over-land/480507-hudsons-monarch-wildscreen-2010-finalist-screen-grabs.html#post1539201

Go for it Mat!!!

Congratulations Mat,

As a newcomer thinking of entering the UWOL challenge for the first time this is inspirational!

Good luck :)

Neil

Well done Mat, a fantastic achievement. The screen grabs look great. Looking forward to seeing the final film.

Well done. Good luck at the festival.

Hey Mat!

This is very exciting news! Congratulations and all the best! Just being nominated is such an honor but we are rooting for you to win!

You have excelled in every way and pushed the limits to excellence in wildlife filming, but my old heartthrob will always be the Fisher King ;-).

Cat

Mat, I have always admired your skills and loved watching your videos. Can wait to see this one. Again, congradulations, you made us all very proud. Bob Safay

Mat, as an entomologist I am drooling.

Mat,

What a buzz, onya Mate. Good luck.

Al

Congratulations Mat,
I am so impressed.

Finn-Erik

Congratulations Mat. No one deserves it more.

Cheers guys. The uwol community means a lot to me and your congrats makes it all the richer ! Starting to get a little nervous now, the festival is less than 6 weeks away.