Award-winning cinematographer Tom Fitz will speak about the challenges of wildlife filmmaking at the Audubon Everglades meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 4.
Fitz, a Palm Beach County resident, has been documenting the planet’s natural wonders on the land and under the sea for more than 30 years, across all seven continents and five oceans, including under the ice in the polar regions.
Fitz has received numerous awards for his work with the BBC (Blue Planet, Blue Planet II, Planet Earth and Planet Earth II), PBS, National Geographic, Discovery and others, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for cinematography and two for outstanding series, and a BAFTA Award for Blue Planet II.
Fitz’s recent work includes Protect Your Water, a 12-part series of short videos produced by Brick City TV about the growing water crisis in Florida.
Inspired by his own children, Fitz co-founded the nonprofit Schoolyard Films in 2008 as a way to introduce students to natural history and the environment through films, which he shoots, produces and distributes for free, along with study guides. Among the Schoolyard-produced films is Coral Reef Rescue, a film that examines the state of the coral reef ecosystem in the Florida Keys.
“Florida faces many environmental challenges, but none more crucial than water — whether it’s our drinking water from the Florida aquifer, or lakes, canals or ocean,” Fitz said. “In both my freelance work and through Schoolyard Films, I try to tackle these issues to help educate and promote solutions, as well as the importance of stewardship of all habitats.”
The Audubon Everglades meeting will be held Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at the FAU Pine Jog Environmental Education Center, located at 6315 Summit Blvd. in West Palm Beach. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Learn more at www.auduboneverglades.org.
