Director
Meet the Filmmaker
Carly Wilson – wildlife carer, fauna spotter, and the person who put a balloon in the post to a real estate conglomerate.
From wildlife rescue to filmmaking
Carly Wilson is an emerging filmmaker with a background in wildlife care and habitat management. She has appeared in a number of film and television programs including RSPCA Animal Rescue, the 7.30 Report, TravelOz and Heroes of Australia, all on ABC Australia, along with many evening news reports, radio programs and newspaper articles.
Born in Canberra but raised in Washington State in the USA, Carly attended Olympic High School and the University of Washington before moving back to Australia in 2006 to pursue work with Australian wildlife. She worked at the RSPCA Wildlife Hospital in Canberra for several years, then moved to Queensland and spent several years as a fauna spotter, relocating wildlife from habitat loss sites for natural gas pipeline installations.
She became interested in filmmaking while still in high school, and became serious about making a documentary on balloon release ceremonies while completing a masters degree at the University of Queensland.
In Carly’s words
It became clear to me that a lot of scientific studies are not publicised. When I learned about what was going on with balloons and sea turtles, I was very concerned. I did a Google search and found a lot of balloon industry propaganda claiming balloons were biodegradable. The scientific literature told a different story.
Carly Wilson, director
Three years in the making
The filmmaker’s journey
“Rubber Jellyfish took me over three years to make. I actually had two children over the process – one during production and one during post production – so I can literally say that this film has been a labour of love.
Despite the challenge of creating a film with one and then two little kids to look after at the same time, I pressed on, because as I started investigating the topic a very interesting story started to unfold that I felt people deserved to know about. Eventually a community began to build around the project, which has resulted in a finished film that has made a significant global impact and something I am very proud of.
The film explores the surprising damage that helium balloons are causing to endangered marine wildlife, and unravels the balloon industry greenwashing that has led consumers to believe that latex balloons are 100% biodegradable and environmentally friendly. This has in turn led to the popularity of balloon release ceremonies and countless animal fatalities as a result.
The film is already making an impact as far as policy goes, and the balloon industry is also changing and improving, which I feel is partly the result of the public exposure generated by the film. This experience has opened my eyes not only to a largely unknown and troubling conservation problem, but also to the power of filmmaking.”
I am passionate about projects that bridge the divide between what is known in the wildlife and scientific communities and what is known in the general public.
Elsewhere
Carly is passionate about using documentary filmmaking to breathe life into science and make it understandable and relatable to a much greater pool of people. She is a contributing writer for 1 Million Women and Enzyme Arts Magazine.
Carly is a Pacific Northwest native but has called Australia home for over a decade. She lives on the Gold Coast with her partner Sam and their two daughters, including Alice.
Continue
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Book Carly to speak
Carly is available for Q&A sessions with classes that have watched the film, and for public speaking appearances.
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Press enquiries
Synopsis, story ideas and a downloadable photo library for journalists.