About

COLORFUL NATURE FILMS is an award-winning nature history production company based in Beijing, China. With a focus on capturing China's natural wonders and indigenous wildlife, we weave captivating narratives that ignite the imagination of audiences worldwide.

Nature in China is much more colorful than a black and white bear - no offence 🐼

It is our mission to celebrate and safeguard its vibrant biodiversity through the stories we tell.

Our Honors

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March of The Elephants is an epic journey of a herd of elephants migrating from their homeland Xishuangbanna, in Yunnan, China, travelling northward over 1,300 kilometers for almost a year and half.

This film reflects the complex relationship between humans and elephants as locals guide and support the majestic creatures through forests, farms, roads, viaducts, and the boundaries between nature reserves and human settlements. The elephants' responses and behaviour provoke contemplation about humanity's responsibility to protect wildlife and biodiversity. We witness humans expressing goodwill and building trust with the elephants as they help them find food, water, shelter, and survival. This documentary underscores the importance of coexisting with nature and respecting the creatures that share our planet.


Main awards:

WILDSCREEN FILM FESTIVAL 2024·OFFICIAL SELECTION

JACKSON WILD 2023·WORLD WILDLIFE DAY FILM SHOWCASE

CHINA DOCUMENTARY ACADEMY AWARDS·WINNER : JURY PRIZE

SPOTLIGHT DOCUMENTARY FILM AWARDS 2022·WINNER : SILVER AWARD


Availability: Available on Terra Mater Factual Studios


Blind Date for apes?

Follow the bold experiment and meet the extraordinary contestants and their families! Filmed over two years in one of the world’s most challenging locations, ‘A Song for Love – An Ape with an App’ is a wonderful tale of hope, and features never before seen behavior of the elusive Skywalker Gibbon.


Main awards:

US INTERNATIONAL FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL 2020·WINNER : NATURE & WILDLIFE

NATURVISION FILM FESTIVAL 2020·WINNER : BEST STORY

CANNES CORPORATE MEDIA & TV AWARD 2020·WINNER : SILVER DOLPHIN IN NATURE & WILDLIFE

NEW YORK FESTIVAL TV & MEDIA AWARD 2021·WINNER : SILVER WORLD MEDAL IN NATURE & WILDLIFE

Availability: Available on Terra Mater Factual Studios


From snow leopards to wild horses, and from alligators to elephants, China’s iconic wildlife is a lot more than just pandas.

Mist swirls around the base of Shanghai’s skyline. From the city, tigers and monkeys seem as unreal and distant as dragons and mermaids emerging through the mist. Yet they do exist, as rare survivors in an extraordinary and diverse landscape.

Some are well known and much loved, and others important and iconic animals filmed for the first time. They are all charming, fascinating, and fragile.


Main awards:

NATURVISION FILMFESTIVAL 2021·NOMINATED

GREEN SCREEN - INTERNATIONALES NATURFILMFESTIVAL ECKERNFÖRDE 2021·NOMINATED

WFFR - WILDLIFE FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM 2021·NOMINATED

MAFF - MATSALU NATURE FILM FESTIVAL 2021·NOMINATED



Forest Talk is an immersive audio-visual production created through a collaboration between CNF, NIO, and Discovery. Shot in Hainan Island, it utilizes Dolby Atmos technology to cater to various platforms such as car cockpits, AR glasses, VR glasses, and large screens. 

This captivating content showcases the unique flora and fauna of Hainan along with their enchanting sounds. It takes viewers on a journey through Hainan's tropical rainforests, wetlands, and marine ecosystems, offering a timeless dialogue between mountains and seas. The film is available for panoramic sound playback on the global NIO platform and has been released in Europe and the United States via the Discovery Channel. It has been honored with the prestigious 2023 Telly Award.  


Main awards:

TELLY AWARD 2023·WINNER :SOUND DESIGN SILVER


Wind Talk is an immersive documentary jointly produced by NIO and Colorful Nature Films at Clean Parks' first European project site in Skovsgaard, Denmark. 

Wind, a participant in nature and civilization, witnesses the changing relationship between humans and nature. 

The wind's journey, like life itself, is a continuous cycle, reflecting the Taoist view that "all things are born of being, being is born of non-being."


Main awards:

TELLY AWARD 2024·WINNER : NATURE & WILDLIFE GOLD

TELLY AWARD 2024·WINNER : CRAFT DIRECTING GOLD

TELLY AWARD 2024·WINNER : PEOPLE'S TELLY GOLD

ODYSSEY SFA 2024·WINNER : THE BEST SUSTAINABILITY FILM - Environmental Protection & Biodiversity Film Award





For four consecutive years, we have worked with China National Geographic and Snapdragon brands to continuously explore the boundaries of nature history documentary creation with smartphones. 


In 2022, it is the 30th anniversary of China's accession to the Ramsar Convention. On November 5, the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP14) was held in Wuhan, China and Geneva, Switzerland.

Colorful Nature Films produced four natural science popularization films for the Wuhan Bureau of Landscape and Forestry, which were shown at the 14th Conference of the Parties to the Ramsar Convention (COP14). The films showed the richness and diversity of China's wetland resources, the concept of harmonious coexistence between the Chinese and nature since ancient times, and our unremitting efforts to protect wetlands since joining the Ramsar Convention 30 years ago.

This series of films is produced by China Environmental Protection Foundation and Huatai Securities, and produced by Colorful Nature Films. The films tell the stories of three types of wild animals and their protection in the source, middle reaches and estuary of the Yangtze River, respectively, to enhance the public's understanding and love of the Yangtze River.

China upgraded all pangolin species to first-level protected wildlife on June 5, 2020. We started this project in 2017 and kept filming the return of Chinese pangolins. Our films showcase the life of Chinese pangolins and the efforts of local protectors to rescue them. In collaboration with Tencent 99 Public Welfare Platform, China Environmental Protection Foundation, Guangdong Wuqinzhang Nature Reserve, Guangxi Terrestrial Wildlife Rescue Research and Epidemic Disease Monitoring Center, and other institutions, this project aims to enhance pangolin protection. 

In 2018, Chinese scientist Chen Mo and his team discovered a pod of Bryde's whales near two young volcanic islands in the Beibu Gulf, China. Bryde's whales are close relatives of the blue whale, the largest creature on Earth. Chen Mo was fascinated by their group feeding skills and was even more amazed that with such massive bodies,these whales never collided while competing for food. During the process of documenting the whales, he formed a connection with a special female whale named "Pouted Mouth." However, the time he spent with "Pouted Mouth" was very limited each year, as she and the pod would disappear into the South China Sea after April. Where did the whales go? Chen Mo was eager to uncover the secret of their survival.

While on a journey to neighboring country Thailand searching for "Pouted Mouth," Chen Mo encountered local filmmaker Chankit. The lives of both men were profoundly influenced and even changed by these gentle giants of the sea, compelling them to make similar choices.


Between China and Vietnam, there is the largest karst areas in the world. A mysterious animal lives here, the Cao-Vit gibbon. Scientists once thought they were extinct, until they were rediscovered in the early 2000s.

This film records a tenacious survival story of Cao-Vit Gibbon, and the transboundary joint-protection story between China and Vietnam. It is the world's first documentary of this ape only living in limestone forest across the Sino-Vietnamese border. Now the national reserve is their last paradise. We followed the gibbon called Mi Ling and her family to learn from the ape planet in Guangxi, China.


Main awards:

JACKSON WILD 2021·WORLD WILDLIFE DAY FILM SHOWCASE


Films

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Our Collaborations