How to Save the World, a New Zealand-produced documentary, has won the Best Nonbroadcast Film top prize at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival in the United States.

The event is the largest on the international environmental and wildlife calendar, attended by broadcasters such as Discovery Channel, National Geographic and Animal Planet. How to Save the World, a New Zealand-produced documentary, has won the Best Nonbroadcast Film top prize at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival in the United States.

The event is the largest on the international environmental and wildlife calendar, attended by broadcasters such as Discovery Channel, National Geographic and Animal Planet.How To Save The World takes the viewer on a journey from New Zealand to India through the life of 79-year-old gardener Peter Proctor and the agricultural revolution he is leading in India.

The film was produced and directed by Hawkes Bay-based husband and wife team, Barbara Sumner Burstyn and Tom Burstyn, from a converted shed on their small farm.

The award was a welcome surprise for the pair: "It was an honour to be nominated, especially given the calibre of the competition, most with million dollar plus budgets, including one starring Harrison Ford. To win is a great bonus and a testament to the power of independent production," says Sumner Burstyn.

Their company is now in post-production on a second film about a Maori family, their 50 horses and their relationship to the land as lifeblood. Sumner Burstyn says there is already a lot of international interest in both films and a number of others on their production slate.

12/10/07