South of Scotland MSP and Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Events Champion, Colin Smyth has hailed the ‘overwhelming success’ of the first Wild Film Festival.

The festival which celebrates wild life films was held for the first time in Dumfries last weekend (24/03/17 – 26/03/17).

The inaugural festival which highlighted some of the country’s top film makers and photographers of wildlife brought in around 2,500 people to the festival across the weekend.

The first of its kind in Scotland, the festival was attended by special guests included Springwatch’s Iolo Williams, Simon King of the Big Cat Diary and Sacha Dench, along a host of wildlife lovers and photography enthusiasts.

Colin Smyth said:

“The Wild Film Festival is exactly the sort of initiatives that Dumfries and Galloway thrives on. Not only was the festival a great celebration of art and wild life but a significant boast to the economy, with people from across the UK seeing the best Dumfries has to offer.

In Dumfries and Galloway we are proud of our fantastic scenery and wild life across the region as well as our excellent events and festivals, so this event combined both to showcase our region to a large audience.  To attract 2,500 people in its first year really is a huge success for the festival and one in which the organisers who I know worked so hard can be really proud of.

It was a great weekend and I very much look forward to seeing this festival get bigger and better every year.”

For further information on The Wild Film Festival please see: http://www.wildfilmfestivalscotland.co.uk/