More than 100 young people from all over the UK have joined forces to create a film called Our Beautiful Wild, showing the actions they’re taking for nature and the climate, and their hopes for the future. The young people, aged between 13 and 25, wrote, produced and edited the 20-minute film. Read on to find out how you can join the online film premiere on 27 November.
Our Beautiful Wild sounds the alarm for nature, but also ultimately carries a positive message of hope and a feeling that change is always possible. The young people came from a diverse range of backgrounds across the UK, with different experiences of nature and their own unique stories. They were all united by their love of nature and desire to help save it.
Most of the young people involved had never made a short film before, and were keen to get involved in creating something new. Through online and in-person workshops, and masterclasses from industry experts, they learnt a variety of new skills: scriptwriting, voiceover recording, filming and editing. They were supported by a host of celebrities including children’s TV presenter Naomi Wilkinson and actor Cel Spellman.
But overall, it was a youth-led project, with the young people themselves being the driving force: writing the storyboard, capturing 2,000 pieces of footage, and editing the final cut of the film.
Tash Ballantyne is a member of the film’s steering group and the RSPB’s youth council. She said: “This film has been a passion project from its very beginnings. It has not been made so that we can all be the next blockbuster directors. It has been made because of our mutual love for nature, and the desire to help it.”
She added: “What I’d say to young people watching it is ‘Don’t give up’. We have the right to desire a better future for nature, as well as for ourselves. These are not mutually exclusive, and if you believe it, positive change will happen.”
Screenings of Our Beautiful Wild will take place in schools, social clubs and homes across the UK, and the hope is that thousands more young people will be inspired to act for nature. If you would like to host your own screening, find out how with your own screening resource pack below.
Get your screening resource pack
Designed to coincide with the COP28 climate change conference held in Dubai on 30 November–12 December 2023, and following the recent State of Nature report, which found that nearly one in six species in England, Scotland and Wales are threatened with extinction, Our Beautiful Wild showcases a generation who are determined to act to save nature in whatever ways they can.
Register now for your place at the online premiere of Our Beautiful Wild from 17.00 on 27 November 2023. Watch the trailer on YouTube: view on YouTube.
The project is supported by the RSPB, WWF-UK and the National Trust, the creative agency World Pencil, and several celebrity ambassadors.
To find out more about Young Voices for Nature and Our Beautiful Wild film, head to the Save Our Wild Isles website.
