CHEVY CHASE, MD. (September 23, 2020) -- HHMI Tangled Bank Studios is proud to announce that “The Serengeti Rules" won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Nature Documentary during the 41st annual News and Documentary Awards ceremony on September 22 and was nominated as a finalist for best cinematography.

“At a time when science is under siege, it has never been more important to offer stories of how science can offer hope for the fate of our planet; and what better way to share that than in breathtaking cinematography showing the power our planet has to heal itself when given a chance,” said HHMI Tangled Bank Studios Head and author of “The Serengeti Rules” Sean B. Carroll. “Congratulations to the entire team of filmmakers who brought this beautiful film to the world.”

“The Serengeti Rules” tells the story of a small band of young scientists who beginning in the 1960s headed out into the wilderness to learn about how nature works. Immersed in some of the most remote and spectacular places on Earth - from the majestic Serengeti to the Amazon jungle; from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific tide pools - they discovered a single set of rules that govern all life. Now in the twilight of their eminent careers these heroes of modern ecology tell the stories of how their pioneering work flipped our view of nature on its head. 

The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival before making its theatrical debut in May 2019 at New York City’s Quad Cinema. “The Serengeti Rules” screened in theaters around the world and received both audience and critical acclaim. The New York Times selected it as a Critic’s Pick and the LA Times said it had “stunning nature cinematography” that offered a “hopeful message.”

The film was broadcast on PBS/Nature on October 9, 2019 and has continued to garner national and international attention at film festivals around the world. It received the prestigious Gran Ecran (Big Screen) award at the Pariscience International Science Film Festival, won top awards at the Jackson Wild Film Festival, won a Wildscreen Panda Award for best theatrical, and took home the Van Lawick Conservation award at the Rotterdam Wildlife Film Festival.

“The Serengeti Rules” can be streamed on PBS/Nature, Prime Video, and iTunes.

About HHMI Tangled Bank Studios

HHMI Tangled Bank Studios is a mission-driven production company that crafts exceptional films about science and scientists for broadcast, theatrical and digital distribution. As storytellers within a world class science organization, we are uniquely positioned to shine a light on some of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of our time – and explain why they matter. Recent films include The Farthest – Voyager In Space, which won an Emmy for best science documentary; The Serengeti Rules, which won an Emmy for outstanding nature documentary; Peabody Award-winning Inventing Tomorrow, which premiered at Sundance and aired on PBS/POV; and Ric Burns’ Oliver Sacks: His Own Life, a NY Times ‘critic’s pick’ which premiered at Telluride Film Festival and debuted theatrically in September 2020. For more information, please visit www.tangledbankstudios.org.