Highlights - CHRISTOPHER GERVAIS - Founder/CEO of Wildlife Conservation Film Festival - Cannes Lions Award-winning Producer

“There are hundreds of environmental film festivals, and that's not us. We are really the only pure Wildlife Conservation Film Festival. And we've elected to have these events in large urban areas simply because of the disconnect with nature. Whether we've had it in Beijing or San Paulo, or places in Europe, we find that the people living in these large urban areas are just not aware of the wildlife and the biodiversity around them.

Most people in New York City have never been to the Catskills or the Adirondacks, which is just a short drive from Manhattan. And there you can see wildlife year round, all four seasons. And that's one of the purposes of the festival. Our mission is very straightforward and simple: to inform, engage, and inspire wildlife conservation through the power of film and media.

And we continue to build our global partnerships worldwide. We'll be returning to Monterey, Mexico, probably in late May or June for our third annual event there. We'll be in Rome and Naples, Italy in late September. And we're in negotiation with the United Arab Emirates about doing a film festival there in the Middle East for very late 2023 or early 2024. And through these partnerships, we get the word out, and that is our message.   

It gives me a purpose in what I do. I do not call it a job. I do not even call it a career. I call it life's mission. It's because of the hundreds of films that could be made annually, whether they're short or features from independent filmmakers that would certainly make an impact on saving a species and or an ecosystem. And when I am gone, there will be others that will run this in my place. I hope that's not for another 50 years, but we'll see. There are certain things I can and cannot control, but hopefully, it will keep me alive for a long time, and we can do quite a bit more.”

Christopher J. Gervais is an award winning producer. His animated film Dream won a 2017 Golden Lion for film and a Silver Lion for music at the 64th Annual International Festival of Creativity. He is environmental and marine scientist and has decades of experience in field work and research with multiple academic institutions and natural history museums. A former science and social studies teacher, later an administrator, he became the youngest principal of a public school in the state of Florida. While a graduate student, Christopher conducted fieldwork and research to study the Pleistocene Mega fauna and their fossils that were deposited over 10,000 years ago. His study of these extinct species informs his concerns for preserving biodiversity and was a significant factor in the founding of the WCFF. Christopher was one of the first scientists to conduct underwater vertebrate paleontology research. He is a professional, advanced scuba diver with NAUI, PADI, SSI and NASDS with over 2,500 logged dives. Christopher founded the WCFF in 2010 using his life savings to get the organization off the ground and has maintained the operations since then. He is a philanthropic supporter of conservation organizations across the globe. Christopher is President of the International Exploration Society, Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, member of the Ocean Geographic Society, friend of American Philosophical Society.

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