Songbird SOS has won the pitch competition in the ‘Best International Programming Showcase (BIPS)’ Feature Doc category at the 23rd edition of the Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, France.

Director Su Rynard pitched Songbird SOS to an enthusiastic crowd of commissioning editors and participants.

The only Canadian feature film project selected to participate in the prestigious European event, Songbird SOS received a cash prize of 2,000 euros.

Sunny Side’s Best International Projects Showcase is a pitching opportunity for projects in development.

From Peter Hamilton of DocumentaryTelevision.com:

“The Canadian wildlife project SongbirdSOS won the pitch competition for Best International Feature Doc. To view the winning trailer, visit www.songbirdsos.com. Congrats to the winning team of Joanne Jackson, Diane Woods and Su Rynard.”

“I set the bar very high before I become involved in a production. So why this one?

• Memory: The spellbinding and often miraculous sounds of Australian songbirds filled my childhood.

• Threat: We’re now at a ‘Rachel Carson moment’ as songbird species everywhere face extinction.

• The model: The Canadian team can potentially access a cascade of Canadian funding to execute a major Blue Chip project.

• Talent: The team has the ability to transform little birds into the ‘Big Characters’ that can counter TV’s stale reliance on big mammals, killer fish, crocs and the like.”