OUR FILMS
Backyard Wilderness 3D

Presented by award-winning SK Films, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, Arise Media and Archipelago Films, BACKYARD WILDERNESS takes viewers on a surprising and spectacular journey to discover the unexpected natural wonders that lie right outside our doors. The film follows young Katie and her family, living in a house at the edge of the woods. Absorbed by digital screens, electronics, and their busy modern lives, they’re blind to the real-life spectacle unfolding all around them. Until, that is, a school project sends Katie outdoors, and sparks her gradual discovery of a whole new world that had previously gone unnoticed. We experience her joy and wonder as her backyard comes alive—wood duck chicks diving out of trees, a mouse dodging deer, salamanders dodging traffic, and coyote pups learning how to hunt.

BACKYARD WILDERNESS reveals Katie’s neighbors in rare and breathtaking intimacy, with stunning 3D imagery captured by high speed and time-lapse cameras mounted inside dens and nests, and sliding along the forest floor and pond bottom. The film highlights how unexpectedly exotic our own backyards can be—providing vivid proof that Wi-Fi is not the only connection that matters.

The film is accompanied by a multi-faceted impact campaign designed to get kids outdoors and exploring. Components include Seek, a family-friendly nature scavenger hunt app from the makers of the wildly popular iNaturalist citizen science app; family activity guides; Next Generation Science Standards-aligned formal education materials; bioblitz toolkits; and beautiful pop-up displays that will engage audiences at libraries and museums nationwide.

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“‘Backyard Wilderness’ reminds us that wild animals are often close by–feeding, mating, hunting, taking care of their young–and sometimes in plain view, if we humans just take the time to notice.”

Wendy Becktold, Sierra Magazine

“‘Backyard Wilderness’ is a true gift to those of us parents and educators who are trying so hard to get an online generation of kids back into the forest. We need all the help we can get and this film does that beautifully.”

Katherine Marinko, Tree Hugger

“There are so many once-in-a-lifetime moments in the new IMAX® film, ‘Backyard Wilderness,’ it’s impossible to say which is most powerful.”

Linda Tuccio-Koonz, ctpost

CREDITS

An SK Films Release, Presented with the Support of Teatown, an Arise Media and Archipelago Films Production, in Association with Reconsider Media, in Collaboration with HHMI Tangled Bank Studios

PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY
Susan Todd and Andrew Young
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Jonathan Barker, Sean B. Carroll,
Stephen Apkon
STORY BY
Susan Todd and Andrew Young
SCRIPT BY
Andrew Young, Susan Todd,
Wendy MacKeigan
ADDITIONAL WRITING
Mose Richards
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Andrew Young
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Andrew Young, Michael Male
EDITORS
Jim Isler, Lincoln Athas
LINE PRODUCER
Kathryn E. Ruopp
SUPERVISING PRODUCER
Myles Connolly
CONSULTING PRODUCER
Jared Lipworth
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORS
Dr. Bernd Blossey, Dr. Michael Rubbo,
Dr. Eleanor Sterling, Dr. Douglas Tallamy