Dan O’Neill and Isaac Rice's Wilderland comes to Bridgwater

Dan and Isaac both met in Bristol while studying for their masters in Zoology.

Isaac said: “I did a zoology degree to make a change and get into research but what I found was that there were no direct changes being made. I needed to find a way to make a difference – by getting zoology into people’s hearts and homes.”

After going their separate ways, Isaac now works for the BBC editing digital content and Dan travels the world filming, his focus being on remote areas such as the Amazon, and has also started thinking about presenting.

However, the pair have come together for this exciting film festival.

They explained: “As best mates, we were once talking about the wildlife films that people were making across the globe, and we thought it would be great if someone saw these.

“The wildlife films on TV are longer and shorter films never really get this chance to be seen. Wilderland gives people the chance to watch these films.”

For the show, they recruited some of the most acclaimed wildlife filmmakers to whittle down a shortlist of over 50 short films to the chosen nine films that will be seen during the tour.

Dan and Isaac said: “The momentum behind the environment is huge at the moment and it is such a hot topic – we saw it as an opportunity, as it is something people have and will, invest their emotion in. It shows that some species are in trouble, but the films aren’t all doom and gloom.”

The pair watched the films and whittled them down to a list to give to the judging panel - wildlife cameraman Doug Allen, naturalist and author Stephen Moss and producer/director Louise Heren.

Once the judges gave feedback on the films, Dan and Isaac formed a shortlist. They had to focus on how the festival would run – not just the feedback. They then created the film festival based on a journey and picked the films in relation to one another.

There will also be an interactive element to the event, where the audiences are given five endangered species and asked to vote for one. At the end of the tour, Dan and Isaac will embark on a journey to make a film about the most voted-for species, raising awareness of its plight and encouraging support for grassroots charities working to help them. They will use some of the money raised at the festival. This will be the first publicly funded and publicly decided film in the UK.

Doug Allen added: “Anyone with a fascination for the natural world and conservation should make sure they book their ticket to Wilderland. It is inspirational.”

All the films in Wilderland look at one area of our natural world, in a range of styles from live action films to animation.

It will take audiences on a journey; from a film exploring how the mercurial Snow Leopard and Himalayan communities co-exist, to the diminishing population of Orangutans in Borneo, to the impact of noise-pollution in our seas on the majestic humpback whale.

There are hard-hitting messages and ingenious plans – one where a scientist and artist team up to create the worlds first artificially induced African penguin colony.

The pair explained: “Each film is individual, and we want to show people how biodiverse the world is. The more you can show people an overall image of the world, the more people are likely to do something to save it.

“We want to show people what they could soon be missing and explain how individuals can make a difference. We want to inspire people to make small changes.”

Dan added: “I go on a lot of remote exhibitions and reset my life. When we went to Guyana, I saw a jaguar after many weeks and its reminds you that those moments and places are hard to find.

“I want people to keep those lost worlds there and hopefully, by seeing these during the films, people will be inspired to care.”

Wilderland Film Festival is coming to The McMillan Theatre in Bridgwater on November 7.

To book visit www.wilderlandfestival.com