More than 33,000 people attended the Golden Turtle wildlife festival

Photo: Golden Turtle Festival Press Service

The Golden Turtle is one of the country’s largest environmental education projects. In 16 years, more than 30,000 photographers from 152 countries have taken part. It is not just a photo competition. The festival included lectures on the importance of conserving biodiversity with biologists and zoologists, screenings of documentary films, interactive workshops, meetings with scientists, renowned photographers and famous travellers. The general partner of the festival was traditionally the Department of Nature Management and Environmental Protection of Moscow.

“Such contests and events stir the mind and awaken it, because when you see how beautiful this world is, how perfect it is, you understand how important it is to preserve it all. This is the message we wanted to pass on to all visitors,” said Anton Kulbachevsky, Head of the Department for Environmental Management and Protection of Moscow.

In 2022, for the first time, multimedia technologies, modern digital interactive solutions and striking installations, including an immersive space that introduces visitors to the mysterious underwater world, were used in the exhibition. Native exposition on light boxes created the impression of ‘luminous photography’ and the effect of being present in the moment of creation. In the panoramic multimedia projection room, visitors could see photos and videos of the inseparable connection between man and nature in 360° format, experiencing a sense of total immersion. As everyone really enjoyed this approach, it is planned to be expanded next year, said festival president Andrei Sukhinin.

“We are planning to expand another new format of the event, namely the use of audio guides. That is, for each exhibition work we will record tracks or audio podcasts together with zoologists, biologists, photographers who can share very interesting information,” he added.

For the first time, schoolchildren tours were organised at the festival with the support of the Department of Education, making it possible for more than 2,500 students to take part in the festival. Among them were winners and runners-up in city environmental competitions.

Cover photo: Golden Turtle Festival Press Service