International Wildlife Film Festival (IWFF)

Overview

The International Wildlife Film Festival (IWFF) is the oldest and longest-running wildlife film festival in the world. Founded in 1977 by wildlife biologist Charles Jonkel at the University of Montana, the festival is held annually in April at the Roxy Theater in Missoula, Montana. The 49th edition runs April 18 to 23, 2026, with a virtual program extending from April 25 to May 1, 2026. The festival programs approximately 50 to 60 films across 12 competitive categories, with two to three finalists selected per category.

IWFF is the only major film festival dedicated exclusively to wildlife and environmental filmmaking that has operated continuously for nearly five decades. The jury evaluates films on scientific accuracy, ethical production practices, and cinematic craft. Submissions are accepted through FilmFreeway. Eligible films must have a release date, copyright date, or air date after 2024.

The festival is headquartered at the Roxy Theater, 718 S. Higgins Ave, Missoula, Montana - a historic venue with three cinema screens, a micro-cinema, an outdoor movie garden, and 35mm projection. The Roxy also operates as a year-round art-house theater.

Submission Details

All submissions go through FilmFreeway. The festival does not accept physical media for initial submission.

For public screenings, selected films must be delivered as a Blu-ray Disc, H264, or .mov file. Non-English productions must include English voiceover or subtitles. The submitter is responsible for all copyrights. Entries with time codes, broken links, or other defects may be disqualified with no refunds.

Films must be permitted to stream virtually, at minimum to a Montana audience. Geo-restrictions and audience caps are negotiable. Some films may also be considered for the Youth Program category.

Competition Categories and Awards

IWFF presents awards across 12 categories, plus a Best of Festival prize and an Audience Award. The winner in each category is chosen by a final jury of three qualified judges. Category winners, Best of Festival, and the Audience Award are announced during the festival.

Competitive Categories

• Best of Festival + Feature - top prize, awarded to the best film overall and best feature-length production
• Best Short - best short film (under 40 minutes)
• Best Short Short - best film under 10 minutes
• Best Series - best series of three or more programs
• Best New Vision - best innovative or experimental approach to wildlife storytelling
• Best Student - best film made while enrolled in an academic institution
• Best Youth Program - best program for young audiences
• Best Animal Behavior - best footage of rare or notable animal behavior
• Best Living with Wildlife - best film about human-wildlife coexistence
• Best Sustainable Planet - best film on environmental sustainability
• Best Wildlife Conservation - best film with a conservation message
• Audience Award - voted by festival attendees

Two to three films are selected as finalists in each category, with approximately 50 to 60 film selections total.

Past Winners

IWFF presents jury awards across 12 categories plus a Best of Festival prize and Audience Award. Recent winners include:

2026 Award Winners (49th Edition):

• Best of Festival + Feature: Snow Leopard Sisters - follows two Indigenous women who form an unlikely friendship to save endangered snow leopards in the Himalaya
• Best Short: SLOOT - Life in the Ditch
• Best Series: Kingdom of Fish
• Best Student: COLOURISE: Exploring the Magical World of Biofluorescence
• Best Animal Behavior: Heart of a Lion - follows biologist Mark Elbroch's decade-long study of two mountain lion mothers in the American West
• Best Living with Wildlife: In the Path of Giants - documents how the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh blocked a vital migratory corridor for wild elephants
• Best Wildlife Conservation: Nuisance Bear - an honest portrayal of polar bears navigating human-dominated landscapes in Churchill, Manitoba

2023 Award Winners (46th Edition):

• Best of Festival: Earthbound: Nzambi Matee - narrated by Orlando Bloom, profiles a Kenyan innovator who transforms plastic waste into sustainable paving bricks
• Best Sustainable Planet: Earthbound: Nzambi Matee
• Best Animal Behavior: Lion: The Rise and Fall of the Marsh Pride
• Best Wildlife Conservation: Heart of Maui

2022 Award Winners (45th Edition):

• Best of Festival: The Territory - directed by Alex Pritz, produced by Darren Aronofsky. Documents the Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people's fight against deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The film also won the World Documentary Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for Documentary Craft at Sundance.
• Audience Award: Tracking Notes: The Secret World of Mountain Lions

2021 Award Winners (44th Edition):

• Best of Festival: Life on the Rocks - directed by George Pretty at the National Film and Television School. For the first time in IWFF's 44-year history, a student film won Best of Festival. The short documentary profiles June Nelson and her late husband's study of gannets on the Bass Rock in Scotland.

Notable Alumni Films and Where They Ended Up

IWFF has showcased wildlife and environmental films that went on to broader distribution and recognition:

• The Territory (2022) - won Best of Festival at IWFF, then won the World Documentary Audience Award and Special Jury Prize for Documentary Craft at Sundance. Produced by Darren Aronofsky and distributed by National Geographic Documentary Films with a theatrical release through Picturehouse.
• Nuisance Bear (2021 short, 2026 feature) - the original short was distributed by The New Yorker, premiered at TIFF 2021, and made the 95th Academy Awards shortlist for Documentary Short Film. The feature expansion won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
• Earthbound: Nzambi Matee (2023) - won Best of Festival at IWFF, executive produced by Orlando Bloom. It screened at the Tribeca Festival and was broadcast on CBC Gem.
• Snow Leopard Sisters (2026) - won Best of Festival at IWFF, also screened at the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival.
• Life on the Rocks (2021) - the first student film to win Best of Festival in IWFF history. It screened at the Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam and the Green Screen Naturfilmfestival.

IWFF Labs

IWFF Labs is a competitive, science-driven filmmaking intensive held in conjunction with the festival. The program brings emerging filmmakers together with working scientists to develop wildlife film projects grounded in biological research. Alumni have gone on to work for National Geographic, BBC Natural History Unit, and PBS Nature.

Submission Tips Specific to This Festival

Unlike general documentary festivals, IWFF jurors include working biologists and conservationists alongside filmmakers. A film with exceptional cinematography but inaccurate science will not win. The jury evaluates ethical decision-making during production, penalizing films that harass wildlife, bait animals, or misrepresent behavior. Filmmakers should be prepared to answer questions about their production methods, permits, and ethical decisions.

IWFF does not require any premiere status. Films that have screened at other festivals, broadcast on television, or been available online remain eligible, provided they meet the release date requirement (after 2024). This is an advantage for filmmakers whose films have already had festival runs.

All selected films must be available for virtual streaming during the online program (April 25 to May 1, 2026). Filmmakers can negotiate geo-restrictions and audience caps. The virtual program extends the festival's reach beyond Missoula to an international audience.

Filmmakers attending IWFF can expect a community-oriented atmosphere with post-screening Q&A sessions, daytime panels, and direct access to filmmakers and scientists.

Industry Reputation Notes

IWFF is the oldest wildlife film festival in the world. In the wildlife film landscape, it holds a distinct position alongside Jackson Wild (Wyoming) and Wildscreen (Bristol, UK). Jackson Wild is the larger industry event with stronger broadcaster presence, while Wildscreen operates in the heart of the UK natural history production community. IWFF differentiates itself through its community-embedded model in Missoula, its emphasis on scientific accuracy judged by working biologists, and its long history as a "watchdog" for ethical wildlife filmmaking.

The festival was founded as a "watchdog" and "guardian" of scientific and factual accuracy in wildlife filmmaking. The jury composition is a key differentiator: unlike general documentary festivals where jurors are primarily filmmakers, IWFF jurors include working biologists and conservationists alongside film professionals.

IWFF Labs is one of the few programs in the world that pairs scientific mentorship with filmmaking craft instruction, making it a talent pipeline for the natural history television industry. The lack of a premiere requirement makes IWFF accessible for films that have already had festival runs but want to reach the wildlife film community.

Missoula's dual-festival identity (IWFF in April, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in February) creates a documentary ecosystem unusual for a small city, attracting filmmakers working on environmental, Indigenous, conservation, and natural history themes.

Festival History

IWFF was founded in 1977 by Charles Jonkel, a wildlife biologist at the University of Montana and a leading polar bear researcher. Jonkel saw the growing art of wildlife cinematography as both an opportunity and a risk: opportunity because films could inspire conservation action, risk because inaccurate or staged wildlife films could mislead audiences and harm conservation efforts.

The festival has operated continuously for 49 years, tracking the evolution of wildlife cinematography from 16mm film to 8K digital capture. In 2013, the Roxy Theater became the festival's permanent home and began operating as a year-round art-house theater with three screens and community programming. The 2022 festival (45th edition) selected winners from over 300 submissions across 12 categories. In 2021, a student film won Best of Festival for the first time in IWFF's 44-year history.

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See Also

Calculate your total festival submission costs and projected return using the Festival ROI Calculator. For the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, also held in Missoula, see Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. For documentary filmmaking approaches, see Documentary Filmmaking Guide. For festival strategy and planning, see Film Festival Strategy. Submit through the IWFF FilmFreeway page or visit the official submissions page.