Gunjan Menon | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2012–present |
| Notable work | The Firefox Guardian |
Gunjan Menon is an Indian wildlife film director, camerawoman, and National Geographic Explorer.[3]
Her work predominantly focuses on conservation and human-interest stories and has been broadcast on Animal Planet India, Discovery Channel India, National Geographic, BBC Earth, and Disney+Hotstar. In 2018, she directed, shot and edited The Firefox Guardian,[4][5][6] her debut film about the life of the first female forest guardian to work with Red Panda Network in Nepal, which premiered in Bristol, England. The film was noted for highlighting the role of community-driven conservation of red pandas and for having an intersectional and cross-genre approach in natural history storytelling.[7][8][9][10] In 2020, she directed a seven part web-series, Rajasthan Royals, which highlights the lesser-known habitat, species, and communities living in and around the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary. She is currently working on her first feature-length documentary supported by the National Geographic Society.[5]
Gunjan is the recipient of the Jackson Wild Rising Star Award, 2020, given to leaders in nature, conservation and science media.[2][1]
Menon graduated in 2018 with an MA in Wildlife Filmmaking from the University of West of England, Bristol, a specialised degree offered in partnership with BBC-Natural History Unit. She received her bachelor's degree in audio visual communication from Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication, Pune, Maharashtra in 2014.[11]
In addition to her professional role as a storyteller, Menon is also a conservation communicator and filmmaking mentor. She is a TEDx speaker and been invited as a panellist and speaker to several film festivals and seminars including Jackson Wild in Wyoming, Nature Environment Wildlife Filmmakers (NEWF) Congress in Durban, South Africa, the Green Hub in Tezpur, and several other events in India. She also takes guest lectures and inspires school and college students to use wildlife filmmaking as a tool for change.[12][13] She is currently a Girls Who Click partner photographer, leading workshops for female-identifying teenagers and a mentor for youngsters wishing to break into the field of wildlife filmmaking.[14] In 2021, she was invited as a speaker to the India Today Conclave in New Delhi as a part of the "Defenders of the Earth" panel to discuss the role young conservationists can play in making environmental concerns a global priority.[15][16]
| Year | Title | Credit | Network | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | The Firefox Guardian | Director, Camera, Editor | Shorts TV (Amazon Prime) | Official Trailer |
| 2018 | On The Brink, Season 1 | Assistant Director, Shooting Researcher, Sound | Animal Planet India, Discovery India, Disney+Hotstar | 8 episodes, Season Trailer |
| 2019 | On The Brink, Season 2 | Editor | National Geographic India, Disney+Hotstar | 1 episode, Indian Pangolin |
| 2020 | Rajasthan Royals | Writer, director, Camera | Roundglass Sustain | Episode 1: Beyond the Fortress
Episode 2: Muskaan, the Leopard Queen |
| 2021 | Episode 6: Lakes of Udaipur | |||
| TBA | Born to be Wild | Director, Camera, Presenter | [17] |