Xi International Wildlife Festival Golden Turtle. XII International Wildlife Festival Golden Turtle

Who among us has not dreamed of breaking out of the daily routine?

We live in big cities, we see gray boxes, we spend a significant part of our lives in buses, subways and traffic jams. But there is another reality, where laws reign that existed even before man appeared on Earth. World of Wildlife! And there are people who are completely different from others. By the standards of the usual way of things, they are not normal. These are wildlife photographers.

They take risks, freeze, spend all their money just for one thing - an incredible shot!

See for yourself what masterpieces they create:

With the help of these people, we created an event that will help you get out of your routine, at least for a few hours, and remember that the world is much bigger than we are used to seeing. And that there are still places on Earth where animals rule and there are practically no traces of civilization. A beautiful exhibition of world-class photographs and incredible stories about the search for amazing shots will help you with this.

Erlend Haarberg

Erlend Haarberg

Photographer from Norway, specializing in wildlife photography in the Nordic countries. He works together with his wife Orsolya Haarberg. Multiple winner of prestigious world photography competitions: Wildlife Photographer of the Year, “Golden Turtle”, GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year and others. Photographer of the year according to the Golden Turtle 2017.

Erlend Haarberg

Photographer from Norway, specializing in wildlife photography in the Nordic countries. He works together with his wife Orsolya Haarberg. Multiple winner of prestigious world photography competitions: Wildlife Photographer of the Year, “Golden Turtle”, GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year and others. Photographer of the year according to the Golden Turtle 2017.

Mate Bense

Mate Bense

Hungarian photographer, famous for photographing animals at close range. For his amazing shots, he is willing to sit for weeks in homemade shelters, the design of which includes one-way glass, hiding the photographer from the animals. His photographs have won prizes at the most prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition 21 times. 8 times he became the winner in it. And his photographs made it to the WPY finals for 14 years in a row!

Mate Bense

Hungarian photographer, famous for photographing animals at close range. For his amazing shots, he is willing to sit for weeks in homemade shelters, the design of which includes one-way glass, hiding the photographer from the animals. His photographs have won prizes at the most prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition 21 times. 8 times he became the winner in it. And his photographs made it to the WPY finals for 14 years in a row!

Unique exhibition of photographs

The Golden Turtle Festival is a major global event. The only forum in Russia dedicated to wildlife of this scale. Over the 10 years of its existence, more than 10,000 photographers from 130 countries took part in the festival. More than 5,000,000 people all over the world visited the festival.

Therefore, the exhibition of photographs to which we invite you is unique!

It contains the works of the best photographers in the world. To see photographs of this level in one place is a great success. In order not to be unfounded, here are a few names of participants in the “Golden Turtle 2018” exhibition.

Michelle Oultremont

Michelle Oultremont

A young and incredible Belgian photographer who puts the emotionality of the captured moment first in his work. Careful selection of conditions, location, time and, of course, willingness to wait days and weeks to shoot the perfect shot. Finalist and winner of prestigious world photography competitions. Winner of the 2018 Wildlife Photograpger of the Year competition in the Rising Star Award category.

Michelle Oultremont

A young and incredible Belgian photographer who puts the emotionality of the captured moment first in his work. Careful selection of conditions, location, time and, of course, willingness to wait days and weeks to shoot the perfect shot. Finalist and winner of prestigious world photography competitions. Winner of the 2018 Wildlife Photograpger of the Year competition in the Rising Star Award category.

Creative performances by the best photographers of Russia

When you come to the festival, you can not only see an excellent exhibition, but also communicate with photographers live! Famous Russian authors will tell you amazing stories about their travels around the world in search of unique wildlife footage. About the price at which they are obtained. We have not yet disclosed the full schedule of such performances, but we will tell you about some of them right now.

Underwater photography of bears in Kamchatka

Photographer Mikhail Korostelev will talk about the most important photo project for him, which has been ongoing since 2015. While working on the project, Mikhail set the maximum bar for himself - to do the impossible in wildlife photography. In his speech, he will show the final photographs and tell how everything happened.

Underwater photography of bears in Kamchatka

Photographer Mikhail Korostelev will talk about the most important photo project for him, which has been ongoing since 2015. While working on the project, Mikhail set the maximum bar for himself - to do the impossible in wildlife photography. In his speech, he will show the final photographs and tell how everything happened.

Travel to Iturup Island

Travel to Iturup Island

Travel photographer Alexey Kharitonov has been collecting his series of photographs from the mysterious Iturup Island in the Kuril Archipelago for several years. In his speech at the festival, he will show the best shots, tell you in what conditions he had to shoot and at what cost he got some of them.

Travel to Iturup Island

Travel photographer Alexey Kharitonov has been collecting his series of photographs from the mysterious Iturup Island in the Kuril Archipelago for several years. In his speech at the festival, he will show the best shots, tell you in what conditions he had to shoot and at what cost he got some of them.

Master classes for beginning photographers

In addition to stories about photographers’ travels, the festival will feature master classes. Leading Russian photographers will help you really raise your level of photography and tell you about the secrets of photography first-hand. What is important is that you will not only be able to listen to useful lectures, but you will also be able to communicate and ask questions. Wildlife photographers are often on the move, and workshops cost very little and are difficult to find. Therefore, the festival is a unique moment when the best names are gathered in one place at one time. Here are some master classes that will take place at the festival.

Master classes and discussions for experienced photographers

If your level is above a beginner, then the festival will be even more interesting for you. Questions of finding an audience, your photographic style, publications and earnings are probably of interest to you. There will be very interesting events on all these topics at the Golden Turtle. What’s important is that you can not only listen to the presentations, but also communicate with colleagues by participating in panel discussions. See a couple of examples of such events below.

The ethics of photographic processing: a debate

Wildlife photographers will gather at an open panel discussion to discuss the boundaries of correct photo processing. The discussion will be attended by: Mikhail Korostelev, Dmitry Pitenin, Vladimir Medvedev, Alexey Kharitonov.

The ethics of photographic processing: a debate

Wildlife photographers will gather at an open panel discussion to discuss the boundaries of correct photo processing. The discussion will be attended by: Mikhail Korostelev, Dmitry Pitenin, Vladimir Medvedev, Alexey Kharitonov.

Buy your ticket in advance

To get to the Golden Turtle festival you need to buy a ticket. It is better to do this in advance by clicking on the red button below. And here's why:

No queue

There are always a lot of people coming to the festival on weekends. You don't have to waste time waiting in line at the cash register.

From October 14 to November 5, the XI International Wildlife Festival “Golden Turtle” will be held at the Expo Center on Krasnaya Presnya.

This is one of the most significant environmental and educational events in Russia, held within the framework of the Year of Ecology in Russia and the UN program for the conservation of biodiversity.
Over the course of 10 years, the international exhibition of professional wildlife photography has evolved into the largest festival known throughout the world.
This year the festival became the largest in the history of the project - more than 130 participating countries, 10 thousand authors, 100 thousand works and more than 5 million visitors around the world.

In 2017, the XI International Wildlife Festival "Golden Turtle" became the largest interactive edutainment platform in Russia, with numerous documentaries about animals and fascinating lectures by famous photographers and travelers, gaming and educational quests and creative meetings, entertaining eco-games and fun culinary workshops -classes for children.

The exhibition area of ​​the Festival presents the works of the winners of the International Competition “The Golden Turtle” in three nominations - “Photography”, “Painting” and “Design” (the first nomination had, in turn, subsections - “underwater world”, “animal portrait”, “landscape”, “new technologies” and others).

The photographer of the year was Erlend Haaberg from Norway, among the winners were two photographers from Russia - Vladimir Voychuk and Maxim Tarasov.

“Snow Brawl” © Erlend Haarberg, winner of the “Photographer of the Year” category, Norway

The main goal of the organizers and authors of the festival is not only to show the best photographs of wildlife, but also to encourage viewers of all ages to be more sensitive and caring towards our priceless, beautiful and fragile world.

"Ghost" © Craig Perry, Australia; nomination "Underwater World"

It is also important that the Golden Turtle festival has not only an environmental mission, but also a charitable nature, since the organizer and owner of the festival is the My Equator Charitable Foundation for Social Support. All proceeds from the sale of tickets, souvenirs and part of the competition works sold at auction will be donated to seriously ill children from one to 18 years of age. This will include sponsoring heart surgeries for 11 young patients in dire need of help.

“Mosquito mushrooms” © Tsaba Gonje, Hungary; nomination "Microworld"

You can take an audio quest at the exhibition. To do this, you need to download the Festival’s mobile application and carefully listen to the audio guide on some photographs of animals and at the end answer 13 questions of the quest. The prize is participation in a drawing for trips to Crete.

Famous presenters took part in recording the stories: Maria Sittel, Mikhail Shirvindt, Evgenia Timonova, Tutta Larsen.

“Two Forests” © Tsaba Daroczy, Hungary; nomination “Art and image of nature”

One of the most interesting platforms is the interactive virtual reality project Virry VR, providing a unique experience of communication with the fauna of Kenya.
By wearing special glasses and headphones, viewers can go on a virtual safari and listen to a story about zebras and rhinoceroses. leopards and monkeys from the famous zoologist Nikolai Drozdov, host of the TV program “In the Animal World”.

In a VR cinema with a 360-degree view, you can take a 10-minute journey through Russian nature reserves - Lena Pillars, Kandalaksha Nature Reserve, Caucasus Nature Reserve, Astrakhan Nature Reserve, Losiny Island, etc. The effect of presence is achieved with the help of special glasses, headphones and a rotating chair.

“Lion in the Fog” © Viktoras Dubinskas, Lithuania; nomination “Portrait of an Animal”

“Deer on the Hill” © François Nowitzki, France; nomination “Harmony of Life”

“Fiery Breath of the Planet” © Vladimir Voychuk, Russia; nomination "Landscape"

“Winter is coming” © Maxim Tarasov, Russia; nomination “New technologies in wildlife photography”

“Starry sky of Patagonia” © Maxim Tarasov, Russia

“Ghost Herd” © Guillaume Pepi, France

“Climber” © Samuel Blanc, France


“Buffalos and Stars” © Andreas Hemb, Sweden


“The Secret Garden” © Miriam Dupoy, France


“Butterfly” © Luis Antonio Clement Rodriguez, Spain

“Kingdom of Triton” © Egor Nikiforov, Russia

“Bather” © Igor Shilokhvost, Russia

“Lord of the Forest” © Felix Morlan Gonzalez, Spain

“The King” © Marc Costermans, Belgium

« When a lady smiles" © Stefan Fönroa, Germany

Moscow, October 13, — The opening ceremony of the XI International Wildlife Festival “Golden Turtle” took place at the Expo Center on Krasnaya Presnya. As part of the ceremony, the winners of the International Photography, Painting and Design Competition The Golden Turtle 2017 were announced. Photographer of the Year was Erlend Haaberg from Norway. Among the winners are two photographers from Russia -Vladimir Voychuk And Maxim Tarasov.

The Golden Turtle International Photography, Painting and Design Competition is a creative competition for professionals and amateurs celebrating the beauty of wild nature. The jury consists of leading photographers, animal artists and designers: Jim Brandenburg (USA), Claudio Contreras Cube (Mexico), Odan Rikardsen (Norway), Michel Roggo (Switzerland), Jonathan Loir (France), Paul Hermansen (Norway), Peter Delaney (Ireland/South Africa), Sergey Gorshkov (Russia), Saleh Zanganeh (Iran), Scott Lizerow (USA), Christina Lambert (South Africa) and others. In 2017, independent experts of a professional jury identified the authors of the best works in three areas: “Photography”, “Painting” and “Design”.

  • New technologies in wildlife photography: Maxim Tarasov (Russia) – “Winter is Coming”

Photographer of the Year The Golden Turtle 2017 became Erlend Haaberg(Norway).

The winners of the direction "Painting" recognized in four categories:

The winners of the direction "Design" in three categories:

  • Eric Ginard (Cuba) – “The Butterfly Trap”;

The prize fund of the competition was $1,000 for the winners in each category, the grand prize of the competition - Photographer of the Year - $2,000.

The opening ceremony of the XI International Wildlife Festival “Golden Turtle” was attended by Sergey Yastrebov, acting Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, Andrey Sukhinin, President of the Golden Turtle Festival, Nadezhda Makova, General Producer of the Golden Turtle Festival, curator of creative competitions at The Golden Turtle 2017 festival Julia Noll, Michelle Roggo, member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), laureate of prestigious international competitions; outstanding nature photographer Sergey Gorshkov, art director of the ProLab photo laboratory and one of Russia's leading experts in the field of digital images Dmitry Shevlyakov, animal painter, multiple winner of wildlife art competitions Claudia Khan; representatives of the My Equator Charitable Foundation - president of the Festival and founder of the foundation Andrey Sukhinin, president of the foundation Maria Gromova, member of the fund's Board of Trustees, co-president of the association of branding companies of Russia, managing partner of the Depot WPF agency Alexey Andreev, Chairman of the Foundation's Board of Trustees Uwe Eischner; partners and friends of the Golden Turtle Festival - director of TV channels of the Media Alliance company - Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, Artem Kuvshinov, deputy editor-in-chief of the publishing house "Komsomolskaya Pravda" Evgeniy Sazonov, head of the photo service of the Izvestia MIC Vitaly Bezrukikh, founder of the production center and publishing house ProLab Nikolay Kanavin, head of the Cultural Project RUSS PRESS PHOTO Vasily Prudnikov, extreme photographer Olga Michie.

“This year the Golden Turtle is being held for the 11th time, and 2017 was a record year for The Golden Turtle competition. Authors from 92 countries took part in the creative competition of photographers from all over the world; in total, more than 10,000 works were submitted, 48 of which took prizes thanks to the assessment of an expert jury, which included world-famous stars, undisputed authorities in the world of natural photography. The works of the laureates and finalists of creative competitions can be seen at the Golden Turtle Festival, which will be held in Moscow and St. Petersburg,” says Andrei Sukhinin, President of the Festival and founder of the Charitable Foundation.

“We radically changed the format of the project this year - we turned the photo exhibition into the world’s first interactive wildlife festival. To expand the audience and make ecology a trend, we “revitalized” the exhibition and supplemented it with an extensive educational and entertainment program. Now “The Golden Turtle” is not only an exhibition of the best photographs of nature from all over the world, but a platform where you can go on a virtual safari in Kenya with Nikolai Drozdov, go through a fascinating audio quest, and learn a lot about the world of wildlife and its inhabitants. The progressive audience of megacities is a voting public. We wanted to surprise her, we worked long and hard, and today I am sure that the “Golden Turtle” will become the decoration of 2017 and the most beautiful event of the fall,” said Nadezhda Makova, general producer of the “Golden Turtle” Festival.

The works of the finalists and laureates of The Golden Turtle 2017 competition can be seen at the Golden Turtle Festival from October 14 to November 5 at the Expocenter on Krasnaya Presnya in Moscow. From November 10 to 19, the Festival will be held in the ArtPlay space in St. Petersburg.

Arts Festival "Golden Turtle"

The festival combines various areas of creative activity dedicated to environmental protection and the conservation of rare and endangered species of animals. “Golden Turtle” is the only official event in Russia held within the framework of the decade for biodiversity conservation declared by the United Nations. More than 130 participating countries, more than 10,000 authors, more than 100,000 works and more than 5,000,000 visitors around the world - such is the scale of the Golden Turtle. Over the 10 years of its existence, the festival has become the largest in the world in terms of the number of participating countries and one of the most visited exhibitions in Russia.

The Golden Turtle Festival 2017 is the official event of the Year of Ecology in Russia.

The general information partners of the Golden Turtle Festival in 2017 were Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, GEO, Sostav.ru, and Izvestia International Research Center. Information support for the Festival is also provided by the radio station “Moscow Speaks”, “GEOlenok”, “Agency of Social Information”, “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, “Around the World”, “Public Television of Russia”, “Sobesednik”, “Kudago”, “RosPhoto”, Clubphoto .ru, Photographer.ru.

The official partners of the Golden Turtle Festival are: Volkswagen Caravelle, the Detsky Mir chain of children's goods stores, FujiFilm, the Aldemar hotel chain, Greenfield, MTS, the ProLab photo laboratory, Aeroexpress, the Anderson family cafe chain, the Resource Saving Center, Smeshariki.

My Equator Foundation

The My Equator Charitable Foundation for Social Support is the owner of the rights to organize and conduct the Golden Turtle Festival. The funds collected by the foundation are used to carry out operations on children from one to 18 years of age suffering from serious illnesses, including congenital heart defects of varying degrees of complexity.

The name of the foundation is not accidental: for many children, a life-saving operation is the “equator” between illness and health, between the world of restrictions and a full life. The main goal of the Foundation’s work is to help its wards cross it safely.

The foundation has several successful charitable events aimed not only at raising funds, but also at educating children, popularizing creative activities, and disseminating information about wildlife and its inhabitants.

More information can be found on the Golden Turtle Wildlife Festival website.

Follow the Festival news at

From October 14 to November 5, the XI International Wildlife Festival “Golden Turtle” will be held at the Expo Center on Krasnaya Presnya. The program of the world's first interactive wildlife festival will include the largest exhibition of natural photography, documentary film screenings, a series of lectures and master classes for children and adults, as well as an interactive audio quest.

The Golden Turtle Festival is the largest international environmental education project, the official event of the Year of Ecology in Russia and the only Russian event held within the framework of the decade of biodiversity conservation declared by the United Nations.

One of the most important components of the Golden Turtle is the International Competition TheGoldenTurtle - one of the world's most prestigious creative competitions honoring the beauty of wildlife. Every year, as part of the Festival, an exhibition of the competition laureates is held. In 2017, selected works from the exhibition will come to life and become part of the interactive audio quest #openyoureyes - a fascinating journey through the world of wildlife.

All visitors will be able to download the Festival’s mobile app for free and listen to a fascinating audio guide - stories about the places and animals depicted in the most beautiful wildlife photographs. Mikhail Shirvindt, Tutta Larsen, Maria Sittel and Evgenia Timonova took part in the recording of the audio guide. The audio guide contains clues and tips. After passing all stations and completing tasks, participants will have a chance to win family accommodation in hotels in Greece - Aldemar Royal Mare and Aldemar Royal Olympian.

The Festival site will feature various interactive zones. In the VR cinema from the general partner of the Festival, Volkswagen Caravelle, visitors will be able to see the unique protected areas of Russia in 360 degrees. In the “Game Room” of the Festival, the educational and entertainment project Virry VR will invite everyone to go on a virtual safari around Kenya with Nikolai Drozdov.

A series of documentary films from the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet will be shown on the main festival stage. The headliners of the program will be the host of the Vesti program on the Rossiya TV channel Maria Sittel, naturalist, popularizer of science, author and presenter of the program “Everything is like animals” Evgenia Timonova, Russian wildlife photographer Sergei Gorshkov and winner of many prestigious photo competitions, nature photographer from Switzerland Michelle Roggo. As part of the Festival, a series of meetings will be held with participants of unique expeditions - they will tell stories about the overcoming and survival of man in the world of wild nature.

A special block of the program is dedicated to the art of photography, which will include lectures by Fujifilm ambassadors - the official partner of the Festival: one of the best photography teachers Alexander Medvedev, street photographer Vivian del Rio, travel photographer Alexander Cheban. Author's sessions on the features of travel photography were prepared by the masters of RUSS PRESS PHOTO, and Russian photographer, naturalist and candidate of biological sciences Anton Lange will give an author's lecture.

A special pride of the Festival is the exhibition of works by Michel Roggo - the large-scale project The Freshwater Project (“freshwater project”). For more than seven years, the photographer traveled around the world, creating an “underwater map” of the world. Festival visitors will have a unique opportunity to see the result of his work - a series of photographs demonstrating the underwater atmosphere of each place, and images of objects on the surface.

As part of the Golden Turtle Festival, an entertainment and educational program for children will be held. For kids, there will be culinary master classes from the Anderson cafe, board games about science and environmental games. The partner of the Festival this year was the leading Russian animation holding GC “Riki” - the creator and copyright holder of the brands “Smeshariki”, “Malyshariki”, “PINCODE”. For guests of the Festival, the Riki Group of Companies will present photo zones with “Smeshariki” and “Baby”, in which they can take photographs as souvenirs. Throughout the festival, you will be able to watch the best series of the projects “Smeshariki” and “Baby”, and on the weekends life-size puppets of your favorite characters from the animated film will appear at the Festival site. For older children, the popular science magazine “Schrödinger’s Cat” will be presented at the “Days of Science” Festival with educational lectures. “Science Days” are held with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

The program of the XI International Wildlife Festival “Golden Turtle” is aimed at developing interest in the environment among society in general and children in particular, at popularizing the idea of ​​caring for nature through art and education. From November 10 to 19, the Golden Turtle Festival will be held in St. Petersburg in the ArtPlay space.

Five reasons to come to the Golden Turtle Festival:

1. The largest international wildlife exhibition. More than 200 photographs from 92 countries. A unique exhibition by Michel Roggo - the legendary author of The Freshwater Project. World premiere. It's wildly beautiful!

2. Rich educational program. More than 30 lectures, creative meetings and master classes on photography, ecology, psychology and travel. This is very useful!

3. Unique audio quest #OPEN YOUR EYES. An educational adventure for the whole family, accompanied by the stellar voices of Maria Sittel, Tutta Larsen, Mikhail Shirvindt, Evgenia Timonova. Opportunity to win family accommodation in a premium Aldemar hotel on the island of Crete. Don't miss your chance!

4. Interactive areas. VW Caravelle + Planetpics Virtual Cinema: a unique 360-degree natural film experience. Virry virtual safari: acquaintance with the “Red Book fauna of Kenya” accompanied by the legendary Nikolai Drozdov. Breathtaking!

5. A simple way to do good and become part of a major charity project. The more people visit the Festival, the more children's lives we will save. Doing good is easy!

Full- All festival activities without restrictions, one-time visit

Student- Students, upon presentation of a student card

To the festival with the whole class- 15 schoolchildren (6-16 years old inclusive) + 2 adults.

School- Children from 6 to 16 years old (inclusive)

Family- 2 adults + 1 child (6-16 years old inclusive)

Family dbl- 2 adults + 2 children (6-16 years old inclusive)

Subscription- Visit the Festival an unlimited number of times at any time, on any day (valid for the bearer).

Exhibition opening hours: 10:00-21:00. Entrance closes at 20:00

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